Greensburg — With Veterans Day just around the proverbial corner, a variety of local businesses and other institutions have made unique plans to honor those who have served our country.

Greensburg's Ponderosa Steakhouse is holding what it calls "Military Appreciation Day" from 11 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 7. A press release states that all members of every military branch are invited for a free dinner buffet and drink that day, intended to honor all armed forces personnel both past and present. Those currently on duty as well as any former members of the United States Army, Air Force, Marines, National Guard, National Guard Reserves and Coast Guard are encouraged to attend.

Ponderosa is located at 312 East Fourth Street and can be reached via telephone at (812) 663-3151 or on the web at ponderosa1176@etczone.com.

The Greensburg-Decatur County Public Library is dedicating its "Weekly Geek" program to military veterans beginning Nov. 7. The event, called "We Geek Veterans," will run through Sunday, Nov. 13 and plans to include scanned photos of Decatur County's military personnel. These photos will be part of a slideshow available for viewing on a large screen located behind the library's circulation desk.

From now until Tuesday, Nov. 1, any residents wishing to submit photos for the presentation may do so by stopping by the library's circulation desk.  After scanning, the photos may be picked up by their owners at any time throughout "We Geek Veterans" week. The library asks that included photos bear the service member's name, branch and date of service.

This program is part of the library's third annual "Our Heroes Tree" event, which will be displayed from Nov. 7 until Nov. 22.

Those interested may contact adult programming or outreach librarian Amy Kuhns via email at akuhns@greensburglibrary.org or Lori Durbin at ldurbin@greensburglibrary.org. Both may be contacted by phone at (812) 663-2826.

North Decatur High School (NDHS) has an entire day of events planned in honor of the nation's heroes.

Considered by NDHS history teacher John Pratt to be the county's "premier Veterans Day event," the school will begin its lengthy tribute with a free breakfast for any and all veterans at 9 a.m. Friday, Nov. 11 in the NDHS cafeteria.

Following the breakfast, the program officially gets underway at 10 a.m. with a presentation that will include the VFW Honor Guard, the American Legion Rifle Squad and local bagpipers. The NDHS band will offer musical numbers reserved specifically for this event as well.

Two speakers are planned to be present, one of whom will be noted author Mary Nahas. Nahas' non-fiction work, ÔThe Journey of Private Galione: How America Became a Superpower," was described by Pratt as an "excellent book." The work is a true account of the author's father, Private First Class John M. Galione's liberation of the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp in Nordhausen, Germany in April 1945.

Nahas is initially expected to speak for about 10 minutes, but will be making class presentations throughout the day at NDHS. Those presentations are planned to offer more detailed accounts of the book and her father's life. The author is also expected to sign books and greet those in attendance.

A second speaker for the program is also planned, though John Pratt was still in the process of determining who will fill that role at press time.

More Veterans Day celebrations are planned throughout the county. Details of those events as they become available will be published in future editions of the Daily News.

Contact: brent.brown@greensburgdailynews.com or (812) 663-3111, ext. 7056.