Dateline: November 15, 2007

Services honor American Veterans' sacrifices   

More than 65 people gathered in Rowe Cemetery Monday to honor American Veterans.

The services were under the direction of Hedley’s Adamson-Lane Post of the American Legion, and post commander Jack Moreman said 211 flags had been placed on veterans’ graves there.

Bright Newhouse led the invocation, and Doyle Messer draped an empty chair with the black ensign of those Missing In Action. The colors of the nation were posted by J.D. Skaggs and Roger Hagar, and Tommie Saye led in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Moreman presented an American flag that had been sent to the post by Clarendon’s Dr. John Howard, who is a captain in the U.S. Navy now serving with the Marines in Iraq. The flag was flown at Camp Gargoyle at the Al Asad Air Base in the Al Anbar province of Iraq.

VFW Post 7782 Commander George Hall was the keynote speaker for the morning and spoke of the service of an estimated 25 million veterans living in the United States today and made particular note of the US service men who suffered brutality at the hands of the Japanese as prisoners of war.

Hall reviewed the history of Veterans Day and its origin as Armistice Day following the end of World War I, explained the significance of the 21-gun salute, and reviewed the meaning of the 13 folds in the American flag.