Published: Nov. 12, 2014
Thank you military
Area service members honored by Packers
By NICHOLAS DETTMANN
Daily News
Heather Mendoza had plenty of reasons to be nervous for
Sunday’s Green Bay Packers game against the Chicago Bears at Lambeau Field in
Green Bay.
The 29-year-old Hartford native sang “The Star-Spangled
Banner” before the game, which was seen on national television, during the
NFL’s annual celebration of the U.S. Armed Forces — Salute to Service for
Veterans Day weekend.
Mendoza, a specialist, has served in the Army for 12 years.
She is a vocalist for the 484th Army Band with the Army Reserve in Milwaukee.
“I was so honored to be chosen,” Mendoza said. “I didn’t
realize it was going to be a nationally televised anthem. I was already honored
to sing for the veterans.”
There were attempts to throw her off, but not intentionally,
though.
First it was the cameramen standing in front of her. Then
she saw her face on the Jumbotron. But the event that almost broke her was
seeing Marine Sgt. Michael Kimmerling surprise his pregnant wife on the field.
They hadn’t seen each other since March and he wasn’t scheduled to come home
from his fourth tour of duty for another couple of weeks.
Kimmerling and his wife, Cassie, learned they were expecting
two weeks before he was deployed.
“I wanted to cry,” Mendoza said.
Then it was time to step onto the stage or, in this case,
the field at Lambeau Field on national television before the NFL’s
longest-running rivalry was to kickoff to sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” on
Veterans Day weekend.
Still, worrying about messing up a lyric was far from the
mind of the 2003 Hartford Union graduate. She was more worried about missing a
note, which she admitted she did a couple times.
“I think it went pretty well,” Mendoza said.
“I think I was pretty nervous until about halfway (through
the song),” she added.
Mendoza was not alone as far as Washington County military
personnel honored at Sunday’s game. Garrett Yahr, a 2012 Kewaskum High School
graduate, was also in attendance.
“It’s really an honor to be here,” Yahr said about an hour
before the primetime game featuring the league’s oldest rivalry.
“There’s a lot of people who can’t be here. I’m glad I can
take their place.”
Yahr is a member of the Wisconsin National Guard, with his
unit stationed in Appleton. He decided he wanted to join the military about his
freshman year of high school. At Kewaskum, he played football and baseball, and
he wrestled.
He joined the military because he believed he owed something
to the United States, to say thank you for the freedoms the country allowed him
to have growing up because of the sacrifice by those before him.
Yahr hasn’t gone overseas to serve and isn’t sure if he ever
will, but he is prepared if he is called to duty.
“You never know what might happen,” Yahr said.
At halftime, the Alpha Battery 1-121 Field Artillery unit
stationed in Afghanistan appeared on the Lambeau Field videoboard via Skype to
send a message to their beloved Packers. Some members of that unit’s family was
on the field at that moment. Then, the Packers fans in Lambeau and Afghanistan
chanted back and forth, “Lambeau” and “Go Pack Go.”
Yahr learned he was going to be attending the game about two
weeks ago. When he was asked to attend the game to represent the military, he
instantly said yes, absolutely.
“I love the Packers,” he said.
Mendoza was asked to sing the anthem about six weeks ago.
Sgt. 1st Class Richard Fertig sent Mendoza an email asking
if she wanted to sing the anthem for the game.
“I was super happy; I wanted to do it,” she said.
“I believe my response was: ‘Hell yeah. What do I have to
do?’” Like Mendoza, Yahr was invited to the game as part of the NFL’s Salute to
Service initiative, honoring current and former military service men and women.
The last Packers game Yahr went to was when he was younger.
So he was eager to represent the armed forces and see the Packers take on the
rival Bears. Sunday’s meeting was the 190th in the NFL’s oldest rivalry.
“I’ve been thinking about it all week,” Yahr said.
It was Mendoza’s first Packers game. She was given eight
tickets for the game, which went to herself, her husband, mother, fatherin-
law, brother and his girlfriend, and two friends. They also got four field
passes. It was the first Packers game for most of them, too.
“We got to walk down on the field prior to people being let
in,” Mendoza said, adding her fatherin- law, a die-hard Packers fan, was like a
kid in a candy store.
At the game, Packers fans held up signs, thanking the
military for its previous and continued service.
To be on the field before the game was something beyond the
wildest dreams for Mendoza and Yahr.
“It means a lot,” Yahr said. “It does make you feel good.”
“It means so much that they would put together such an
awesome event honoring the military,” Mendoza said.
“I love my country,” she added. “I have a lot of family that
has served in the military. It’s a great honor.”
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