Salute to Veterans 2009

Whether you call it Armistice Day, Remembrance Day, or Veterans Day, November 11th is a day set aside originally by all English speaking countries to mark the end of the Great War and, now, to honor all veterans who have served their countries with honor.

Here in the Shoals, ceremonies began as early as last Sunday. Today and tomorrow will be celebrated by parades: Russellville today at 4:00 p.m. and tomorrow in Tuscumbia and Lawrenceburg at 11:00 a.m. The traditional eleven o'clock hour will also mark the annual tribute held at the University of North Alabama in the World War I Amphitheatre.

If you know a veteran, be sure to thank him or her for service to this country and to each of us. Tomorrow is a particularly ironic holiday for the United States due to the timing of the Ft. Hood shootings. Even at peaceful settings on our own soil, members of the military give their lives to preserve our freedom.


Veterans we honored last year: Veterans Day 2008

Shoalanda

Veterans Day 2008

Ninety years ago the guns fell silent on the Western Front. Today we still mark this anniversary of the Armistice, calling it Veterans Day and honoring all those who have served to protect our country and its freedoms. Unfortunately, World War I was not the "war to end all wars," and today our country fights on many fronts to maintain our liberty, daily adding names to the list of United States veterans.

To all veterans reading this today, I salute you and I thank you. Some readers have submitted names of friends and relatives that they would like to honor on this day. I hope those listed know how much we appreciate them.


Haymond Brown Jr. - Iuka - Viet Nam - Paratrooper with the 101st Airborne

Frank Buckles - Charles Town, West Virginia - WWI - Ambulance driver in France and last living World War I veteran

Dean Farmer - Center Star - Served with the Military Police in Turkey

Conred P. Joiner - Lexington - WWII - Fought in the Battle of the Bulge

Lofton C. Morgan - Florence - WWII - Slept in a pup tent filled with water at Guadalcanal

Willard Patterson - Atlanta - WWII - Bridge builder with Corps of Engineers

Euell W. Stutts - Greenhill - WWII - Fought in Germany

and

The Major - He protected us from Communism