The Veteran Recogition today at Oak Ridge Cemetery was beautiful, even if my saying so sounds a bit like I am bragging. Top and I got there about 10:30 to set up the sound system and to try again to find Private Arthur Lewiss resting place. Edith Bailey-Fish arrived, and shortly thereafter we were joined by Gwen Williams. Gwen is the town historian for the black community. That woman is a wealth of knowledge. I told her that I was having trouble locating the resting place of Jim G. Lewis,, and that I had just determined that he was the brother of Arthur and was supposedly buried near him. She knew who I was speaking of and joined Top and myself in trying to locate the marker. We had already found Arthurs before any one else had arrived. We found what we were looking for buried about an inch under dirt and leaves. Then another group came in. Gwen told me they were the family of Aaron Bruner, who had served in the Army during World War II. Wonderful people! We visited Mr. and Mrs. Bruners graves next. We were 30 minutes late with the program because we were having such a wonderful time visiting and talking about the veterans buried there. We opened with the Pledge of Allegiance, then Edith sang the National Anthem, followed by a beautiful prayer by Gwen. (I cant thank these ladies enough for helping me out today.) I then told the history of how Veterans Day came to be and talked about Lt. Col. John McCrae, who had written the poem In Flanders Fields, and read the poem as well. Following the poem, the names and ranks of the 9 veterans at Oak Ridge were read, followed by the playing of Taps. After that we all walked through the cemetery and placed pennies on the military markers. It felt like a huge family reunion and the fellowship was absolutely wonderful. My newest desire for this cemetery is to help them get a flag pole set. I bet we can make it happen!!
Posted on: Sat, 08 Nov 2014 20:43:20 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015