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Thursday, March 28, 2024 - 04:50 PM

INDEPENDENT CONSERVATIVE VOICE OF UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA

First Published in 1994

INDEPENDENT CONSERVATIVE VOICE OF
UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA

Music by Upstate Senior Concert Band, Vocalist Kay Crowe-Baine, Scottish Piper Kenneth MacCallum

Trey-Gowdy---MugThe Greenville County Veterans Memorial Day program was held at County Square, Monday, May 28 at 10: 00 AM. The program featured Fourth District Congressman Trey Gowdy as guest speaker, music by the Upstate Senior Concert Band with vocalist Kay Crowe-Baine and Scottish Piper Kenneth MacCallum.

State Senator Mike Fair, Chairman of the Greenville County Legislative Delegation, presented special medallion awards to each member of the Joint Veterans Council for their participation in and planning of the Armed Forces Day Parade and the Memorial Day Ceremony.

 

American Legion Post 3 Color Guard presented the colors.

Ms. Andrea Smith, Executive Director / CEO of Senior Action, sang the National Anthem.

Ms. Kay Crowe-Baine led the audience in singing “God Bless America.”

Congressman Gowdy said, “Flying into Washington D.C. each week gives us a chance to see one of our Nation’s great treasures, the greatest repository of natural resources ever collected at one place underground – Arlington National Cemetery.

“The rolling hills, the green grass punctuated by tiny white crosses. It’s a tragically beautiful sight from the air. You are struck by the uniformity, the equality, the sameness of it all, all knitted together with perfect symmetry.

“And in reality there is uniformity - at least as it pertains to service, devotion and sacrifice to country. But friends it is Days like today when we need to get out of the plane, stop looking from the air and get on the ground. Walk among those elegant white crosses because each one of them represents a unique, special, individualized story. The person underneath that cross represents an individual life every bit as sacred as we view our own and those we love. And each one of those buried had the same hopes, the same dreams, the same goals we have for our own children and grandchildren. To know love, to know the feel of a child’s kiss on your cheek, to grow old with the people we love.

“The real uniformity is the sacrifice. Each one gave something. From years of their life, to a limb, to the innocence of believing good always beats evil, to their very lives.

“So how can we honor them? How can we make sure that if those crosses could talk and if we asked them “was it worth it” the answer would be a resounding ‘yes!’ We honor them by honoring the things they sacrificed for: Freedom, truth, personal responsibility, a belief in something bigger than just you, the American Dream and all that goes along with it.

“So our challenge is to remember not just what some sacrificed and lost but why they did it. And to make sure we are doing everything we can to make sure what they lost was worth it.”

Gold Star Mother, Mrs. Ruth Helen Massey, whose 20 year-old son, John W. Massey, Jr., was killed in Vietnam in 1969 and former U.S. Ambassador to Canada, David Wilkins placed a wreath at the Veterans’ Memorial.

Music was provided by the Upstate Senior Concert Band under the direction of Ron Hamilton. The band played the National Anthem, the Armed Forces Medley and several patriotic songs.

Kenneth MacCallum performed “Amazing Grace” on the Bag Pipes.

Members of the Capt. Charles F. Gandy VFW Post 6734 fired a 21-Gun Salute in honor of all who have paid the ultimate sacrifice.

“Taps” was performed beautifully by the Upstate Senior Concert Band.

Most of the veterans in attendance served during World War II, the Korean War or Vietnam. War.

George Blevins, County Veterans Affairs Officer, said that

veterans who have served since September 11, 2001 have returned home to find jobs, get married, start families and probably don’t think about attending Memorial Day observances.

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