The City of Daytona Beach Shores will honor veterans and active military personnel at the annual Armed Forces Day Ceremony & Picnic at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 21, at Veterans Park, located behind the Shores Community Center, 3000 Bellemead Drive, Daytona Beach Shores.
Retired U.S. Navy Capt. Jake Johannson will be the keynote speaker, with music provided by the Navy Band Southeast Brass Quintet. The Daytona Beach Shores Department of Public Safety Honor Guard will present the colors.
The event is free and open to the public. Seating is limited; please bring your own chair. Lunch will be served inside the Shores Community Center after the ceremony.
“We love our veterans and military personnel, and the Armed Forces Day ceremony is one way we pay tribute to them,” said Daytona Beach Shores Mayor Nancy Miller. “We dedicated our Veterans Park and also became a Purple Heart City in 2019, and we are blessed to have such a beautiful space for honoring those who have sacrificed and given us so much. I invite everyone to join us May 21 for this moving, patriotic ceremony.”
In his 35½-year career, Johannson flew combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan and held leadership positions including as a base commander, commanding officer of a squadron that safely flew over 5000 hours of combat missions over Iraq, and staff tours with the Chief of Naval Operations in the Pentagon and with the Commander of Naval Air Forces Pacific. He was selected by Vice President Richard Cheney as his Naval Aide for three years. He has been awarded an Air Medal, Bronze Star, Legion of Merit and Defense Superior Service medal for his service.
Johansson served as city manager for the city of Port Orange from 2015 to 2020. He was honored as Administrative Officer of the Year for the Volusia County League of Cities in 2018. He has served on the advisory board at the Spruce Creek High School Academy of Finance and is on the Daytona State College Facilities Planning Advisory Council.
He and his wife own Core Concepts Leadership, a consulting firm. They are facilitators of the Port Orange, South Daytona, Daytona Beach Shores Youth Civic Leadership Training Experience and the Southeast Volusia Leadership program.
For more information, please call the Shores Community Center at 386-281-3000.
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