DEARBORN — The Dearborn Allied War Veterans Council (DAWVC) has announced the 2021 Veteran of the Year to be honored at the annual Veterans Day Ceremony.

Stephen Fletcher, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and member of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, was selected as Veteran of the Year and will be honored at the Veterans Day Ceremony at 11 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 11 at the Ford Community and Performing Arts Center, 15801 Michigan Ave.

The event is open to the public. However, those in attendance are asked to wear masks to help protect the high-risk WWII, Korean War and Vietnam War veterans who will be present.

The Veteran of the Year is nominated by their veteran peers before being selected by a committee of past recipients. 

The honoree is chosen based on their continued service to their community, especially veterans in Dearborn and beyond.

That’s the big message I want to get out — every little bit helps. — Stephen Fletcher

Other traits considered are personal qualities of honor, leadership, compassion and commitment.

“Stephen is that type of Marine who will step up and get the job done, but will not toot his own horn,” Art Garrison, the 2017 Veteran of the Year, said in his nomination. “Besides being a member of many veteran organizations in Dearborn, he is also a member of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, the civilian uniformed branch of Team Coast Guard.”

Garrison also described Fletcher as a selfless public servant who has worked tirelessly with the Missing in America Project (MIAP) to bring the cremains of veterans home for internment at the Great Lakes National Cemetery. Fletcher said his involvement with the MIAP is one of the greatest honors and a humbling experience to be able to give these veterans a proper internment.

He also said he is humbled and honored to have been selected.

“I’m from a military family,” he said. “My dad was in the Army Air Corps, which was the predecessor of the U.S. Air Force, and he was in World War II. My great-grandfather was in World War I. My older brother was in the U.S. Army from 74-77 and later service in the Marines from 79-89. So, I had thought about it and going through high school, I took the Navy Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps courses.”

Fletcher served in the Marine Corps from 1981-1986. At 18, he went to boot camp at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island, S.C., before going to occupational specialty training at Marine Corps Base, Quantico, VA, where he graduated top of his class.

After the 9/11 terror attacks, Fletcher felt a pull to re-enter the military.

“I looked at going back into the Marine Corps and at that point in time, based on age, they said I was too old and couldn’t go back in,” he said. “After a few years, an opportunity presented itself for me to join the Coast Guard. It was still a way for me to give back and serve.”

After surviving a near-death diabetic episode in 2012, his second chance at life renewed his commitment to volunteer service.

“Public Service is something anybody can do,” he said. “For some people, for example our mayor, Mayor Jack O’Reilly Jr., and Mayor Bill Bazzi in Dearborn Heights, public service is their life. But public service is something anyone can do — it doesn’t matter if it’s big or small. You can help out at a school, serve at the airport at the volunteer centers, volunteer at the local VA hospitals. Or you can go all out and drive to Grand Rapids and escort cremains or volunteer on the parade committee. That’s the big message I want to get out — every little bit helps.”