More than 100 veterans and their guests enjoyed a day of appreciation Saturday, thanks to the Suffolk Ruritan Club and Suffolk Elks Lodge.

They enjoyed food, music, games, door prizes, massages and haircuts, fellowship and more — all free, thanks to the generosity of the clubs and their donors and sponsors.

“I think this is great, I really do,” said Clarence Johnson, a World War II veteran. “And to think, they do it every year. You’ve got to applaud them.”

The 90-year-old Johnson, one of the oldest veterans at the event, regaled those who asked with stories of his Navy service in the Pacific Theater, mostly in and around the Mariana Islands, during the war after enlisting in 1943 at the age of 17.

He wound up staying in the military for 21 years, retiring as a chief petty officer, and put in an additional 20 years as a civil servant.

“We’re here to support them and thank them for their service,” said E.C. Harris of the Suffolk Ruritan Club. “I think the Elks Lodge and Ruritan Club and citizens of this country — that’s what we should be doing for all our veterans.”

Harris said Jimmy Franks of the Elks Lodge was his partner in putting the event together.

Arlin Peeples was another of the oldest veterans at the event. He joined the Navy from his native Florida in 1942 at the age of 19. He went to boot camp in Norfolk and spent most of his service in the Mediterranean countries and North Africa. He eventually spent 26 years in the Navy, finished college while in the Navy and married a Suffolk girl, which brought him here.

“I think it’s very good,” he said of the event.

The groups have been raising money for a track chair — a wheelchair that is able to handle off-road environments such as wooded areas — for a veteran who was injured in a combat zone.

They have raised the full amount needed and had hoped to present the chair at the event. However, Harris said, they have not yet found the right person to give it to. Ideally, they would like to give it to a local veteran who enjoys outdoors activities enough to put it to good use.

Harris said anybody who knows of a veteran who could use the chair should contact him at 620-8625 or Franks at 434-9240.

Separately, the organizations are raising money for a new bench at Albert G. Horton Jr. Memorial Veterans Cemetery.