Veterans from across northern and central New York are to be honored at a ceremony at Fort Drum today with representatives of the Army’s 10th Mountain Division on hand to recognize the honorees.

State Senator Patty Ritchie will present each nominee with a plaque outlining highlights of their service at the ceremony, at USO Fort Drum’s Heritage Center, from 2 to 4 p.m. Thursday, May 3.

The veterans, including eight from St. Lawrence County, were nominated by family, friends, co-workers and comrades-in-arms for their military service and their continuing work and involvement in causes that benefit and improve our local communities.

The vets from St. Lawrence County are:

• Clarence Berry of Ogdensburg, U.S. Army, WW II, Korea and Vietnam era, longtime veterans activist and military historian

• Nellie Coakley of Canton, Vietnam War Army nurse who pioneered efforts to help veterans in northern New York with post-traumatic stress issues

• Donald Cooke of Ogdensburg, Vietnam combat veteran, longtime member of the Army Reserves, and Ogdensburg veterans activist who helped bring the Moving Vietnam Wall to the city

• Ronald “Joe” Fields of Lisbon, Air Force veteran who waited for orders during the Cuban missile crisis of 1962 on whether he would bomb Havana; longtime Lisbon veterans affairs and community activist

• Jeremiah Pete Havens of Ogdensburg, for 32 years a New York State veterans counselor, advocating for North Country veterans

• Thomas Morrison, Army Russian interrogator who saw the end of the Cold War in Europe and uses his experiences to inspire his social studies students in the classroom

• Patrick Rourk of Norwood, 24-year Air Force veteran, veterans advocate, and former St. Lawrence County Veterans Services Director

• Arthur G. Wilson of Ogdensburg, WW II and Korean War-era sailor and longtime veterans activist and advocate for disabled vets in St. Lawrence County.

“I am very pleased to have this opportunity to show my appreciation to these local heroes, whose service spanned the globe from Omaha Beach to Korea and Vietnam, Cold War outposts and recent conflicts in Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan and the Global War on Terror, and who continue to serve our communities and veterans causes after they returned home,” Ritchie said.

Ritchie will also announce that she has chosen Col. Michael Plummer, founder of the “Adopt-a-Platoon” program, as the 2012 inductee to the State Senate Veterans Hall of Fame.