The City of Miami Beach, working with VFW Post 3559 and the Badger platform, will project electronic messages and videos of gratitude onto the Betsy Orb each evening from Nov. 7 through Nov. 10, ahead of Veterans Day. Many of the messages are expected to come from local schoolchildren and families, though anyone can take part.
The four-day Letters of Gratitude event opens Saturday, Nov. 7, at 5:30 p.m. with a sunset bugler playing “Retreat” outside The Betsy Hotel, 1440 Ocean Drive. The bugle call will also be broadcast on Lincoln Road, Pennsylvania Avenue, 73 Street and Ocean Terrace in North Beach, and it will be replayed at the same time on later evenings.
On Nov. 7, the Orb projections run from 6:40 to 11 p.m. From Nov. 8 through Nov. 10, they run from 6 to 11 p.m. The same night, the Betsy will host two screenings, at 7 and 8 p.m., of a short documentary titled “Nothing Can Be Done, But Something Can Be Said.” An invitation-only ceremony will also take place that evening, when a U.S. Air Force colonel presents Vietnam War veteran James E. Anderson with replacement medals lost after his return home about 50 years ago. Anderson received a 100% disability rating in July.
The city will hold its 18th annual Veterans Day parade on Ocean Drive on Wednesday, Nov. 11, starting at 11:11 a.m. Residents can watch the live feed or upload a short video or photo of a handwritten letter at miamibeachfl.gov/america250 through Nov. 10.
