Local leaders honor community dedication of Howard Seid, the 2024 U.P. Veteran of the Year

ESCANABA, Mich. (WJMN) — Local legislators, veteran group leaders and more gathered on Thursday at the U.P. State Fair to honor Ontonagon’s Howard Seid for his outstanding community service.

“An incredible human being, an incredible and inspirational Yooper, a proud Michigander, and the 2024 Upper Peninsula Veteran of the Year.”

Those words from Michigan’s lieutenant governor Garlin Gilchrist II were just a sample of the many kind words said about Seid during the ceremony.

Among his merits, Seid is Commander of the Rockland American Legion Post 92, western U.P. representative for the Veteran’s Community Action Team (VCAT), and Vice-Chairman of the VCAT Steering Committee.

Outside of his official roles, Seid has organized community and veteran events, and driven fellow veterans to their appointments at the VA hospital.

“It’s the stuff people rarely talk about,” said Dr. John Phillip Shealey, medical center director at the Oscar G. Johnson VA Medical Center, “when you see him connect with people one-on-one and meet them where they are, that’s what service is all about… and that’s who [Howard] is.”

Beyond that, when Lt. Gov Gilchrist spoke at Seid’s ceremony, he highlighted how Howard has gone out of his way to raise money and acquire special medical equipment to make veterans more comfortable in their final days.

“One story that really stuck out to me, that I don’t think I heard earlier,” said Gilchrist. “Howard worked with a veteran recently who had terminal cancer… and sometimes people who have terminal cancer have special and specific needs.”

In this case, the veteran needed a specialized care to ensure they were comfortable in their final months.

“Howard raised the money to get the chair,” said Gilchrist. “He bought the chair, set it up and brought it to this gentleman. And when he passed away… Howard then retrieved the chair, and put it back into service for another veteran who needed it.”

When it was Seid’s time to speak, he would comment on the feeling he got when the veteran’s widow expressed her gratitude.

In his following comments Seid thanked the committee for recognizing him, but said the credit extends to the rest of the veteran community back home as well.

He said it was their efforts that help make many of his goals possible, and that it was their consistent and robust culture of service that has warded off a problem plaguing many veteran organizations today.

“We have to bring in new blood soon or our posts will start to wither, and more will pass on,” said Seid. “Believe me when I say the more active you are as a post, the more younger vets will want to join you.”

After the event, Seid told us what he would say to younger veterans in the community.

“What I tell them is, ‘you know what? I don’t need you to do a lot of work right now. I don’t need you to come to meetings, I don’t need you to go out and help me work on this. You have family, you have jobs, I know you’re busy. But stand up and be a part of something, and we can go from there,” said Seid.

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