Two dozen new U.S. citizens were urged at their Naturalization Ceremony last Friday to come together to strengthen the nation and make it a better place to live.

The new citizens from 17 different nations, veterans, a schoolchildren’s chorus and U.S. Sen. Susan Collins were among those who turned out for the ceremony, which was hosted by the American Legion Post 148 Auxiliary and led by its president, Pam Whynot.

With Memorial Day on their minds, many of the speakers at the ceremony focused their remarks on the sacrifices of the nation’s veterans as the price of the nation’s freedoms.

Col. Bob Atkins, a Raymond resident and active member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, addressed the new citizens.

“I personally congratulate each of you on the long journey,” Atkins said, “and the sacrifices you had to make to be sitting here today, to become citizens of the United States of America – a country for which most of all of my adult life I’ve been willing to die for.”

Atkins, a retired Marine, tearfully read “Freedom isn’t Free,” by Kelly Strong, a poem Atkins said “sums up as best as possible the cost of freedom you now are getting in the United States of America.”

Before the newly naturalized citizens recited the oath of allegiance, Immigration Services Officer Kurt Pelletier told them, “For each of you the journey to America was unique. Some of you came to join family, some of you sought vocational or educational opportunities. Some of you fled hardship and strife in your homeland at great risk and personal sacrifice. All of you chose to make America your adopted home and to become U.S. citizens today.”

Pelletier, a veteran, introduced Collins, who congratulated the new citizens and welcomed them to citizenship. She applauded the third-grade Windham Primary School chorus, saying, “there’s no better civic lesson for these students on what it means to be an American than to witness this ceremony today.”

Collins told the group, “All of you will have the freedom and opportunity that is the guarantee America makes to its citizens, but it’s up to each of you, as it’s up to all of us, what you make of the tremendous opportunity to be an American.”

Citizenship, she said, “is about coming together to strengthen our nation, to make the United States a better place to live.” This can be achieved not just by serving in the armed forces, but by running for public office, volunteering, and “stepping forward to help the hungry, comfort the sick or befriend the lonely,” she said.

Windham High School graduate Anne Libby, winner of the local VFW Patriot Pen Competition in 2014, read her winning essay about citizenship.

It will be the citizens who “determine the future of our great nation,” Libby said, “the ones who will help each other, the ones who will grasp hands across all odds and distances between them.”

She urged fellow citizens to meet each other “with compassion and an open heart, because even the smallest gestures can make the country and the future better.”

Maria Loyola was among those receiving American citizenship. Her husband, Ed Loyola, has been working in Maine since 1999. Loyola emigrated from the Philippines to Maine in 2006.

She and her husband live in Wiscasset with their six children. Their youngest, Natalie Loyola, attended the ceremony. The couple said they love living in Maine, which they described as “the perfect place to raise children because it’s quiet and safe.”

Maria Loyola, center, takes the oath of allegiance with daughter Natalie by her side. Loyola and her husband Ed said Maine has proven to be “the perfect place” to raise their six children.

Third-grade students from the Windham Primary School Chorus saluted the flag with the “The Star Spangled Banner” and “You’re a Grand Old Flag” at the Windham Veteran’s Center May 24.

Senator Susan Collins, right, shakes hands with a newly naturalized American citizen. The diversity of the United States “is what makes our nation strong,” Collins said at the ceremony, “it is what makes us the greatest nation on Earth.”

Hajara Kizito shakes hands with Col. Bob Atkins after receiving her certificate of United States Citizenship. Kizito, a resident of Bangor, said “I am so proud and so excited to be a U.S. Citizen. There are very big opportunities for me here.”

Izu Chukwu Omyejekwe, of Bangor, takes the oath of allegiance during a naturalization ceremony at Windham Veteran’s Center.

At the Windham Veteran’s Center last week, 24 individuals representing 17 different countries became naturalized U.S. citizens.

American citizens naturalized at the Windham Veteran’s Center emigrated from the following countries:

Canada

People’s Republic of China

Democratic Republic of Congo

Egypt

Estonia

Germany

Jamaica

Kazakhstan

Mexico

New Zealand

Nigeria

Philippines

Somalia

Sudan

Turkey

Uganda

Vietnam