For the past
several years the Athens American Legion Post 49 has held
their Memorial Day Ceremony under the pavilion at the
Alabama Veterans Museum and Archives on Pryor Street in
Athens.
The guests of 200
plus gathered among the stars and stripe bunting that
decorated the stage and the American Flags waving from their
stands to each patriotic person who attend this ceremony.
Master of
Ceremonies Dick Neill, Veteran Service Officer for Alabama
Department of Veteran Affairs, greeted everyone with the
adage "we have set aside on this day to pay tribute to the
fallen soldiers and veterans."
The ceremony
began with Katie Fetter, President American Legion Aux &
Robert Hooie Commander American Legion Post 49 and Danny
Gilliam Commander DAV Chapter 51 & Edna Hicks, President VFW
Auxiliary placing the Floral Wreaths to remember those who
made the ultimate sacrifice.
Mrs. Edna Hicks
also recognized the Gold Star Mothers, an organization of
mothers who have lost a son or daughter in the service of
our country.
The Special speaker for the ceremony
was Col. John Reitzell, US Army, Retired.
Reitzell retired after a 28 year
Army career. Col. Reitzell
served in the 82d Airborne, the 4th Infantry,
the 2d Infantry, the 2d Armored Divisions, the
173rd Airborne Brigade, and commanded the famed
1st Battalion 509th Parachute Infantry and is in
that unit’s Hall of Fame.
His assignments began at platoon leader level
and increased in responsibility through Brigade Command. He
commanded 2 Infantry Battalions of over 700 Soldiers and a
Brigade of over 2,500. He served multiple years in
“black” Special Ops at Ft. Bragg, where he deployed on 36
“real world” operations in support of the US Counter
Terrorism mission.
He currently sits
on the Board of Directors of the Tennessee
Valley Chapter of the National Defense
Industrial Association and the
Huntsville-Redstone Chapter of The Association
of the United States Army.
He is
employed by Dynetics Inc,
a Soldier centric Company that specializes in R&D and
engineering for the guys at the pointy end of the spear.
If you missed meeting Col.
Reitzell at the Memorial Day Ceremony, he plans to attend
the Museum's Coffee Call on June 4th. I encourage everyone
who has served or have family who served to meet and listen
to Col. Reitzell speak.
Read more about Col. John
Reitzell
Teresa
Todd
AthensPlus.com
May 310th, 2011
The story behind the Poppy
www.cal-mum.com/poppy.htm
Each year around Memorial Day, Veterans
of Foreign Wars members and American Legion Auxiliary
volunteers distribute millions of bright red poppies in
exchange for contributions to assist disabled and
hospitalized veterans. The program provides multiple
benefits to the veterans and to the community. The
hospitalized veterans who make the flowers are able to earn
a small wage, which helps to supplement their incomes and
makes them feel more self-sufficient. The physical and
mental activity provides many therapeutic benefits as well.
Donations are used exclusively to assist and support
veterans and their families. The poppy also reminds the
community of the past sacrifices and continuing needs of our
veterans. The poppy has become a nationally known and
recognized symbol of sacrifice and is worn to honor the men
and women who served and died for their country in all wars.
A brief history of the
artificial poppy:
In the World War I battlefields of
Belgium, poppies grew wild amid the ravaged landscape. How
could such a pretty little flower grow wild while surrounded
by death and destruction? The overturned soils of battle
enabled the poppy seeds to be covered, thus allowing them to
grow and to forever serve as a reminder of the bloodshed
during that and future wars.
The poppy movement was inspired by
the poem "In Flanders Fields" written by Lieutenant Colonel
John McCrae of the Canadian forces in 1915 before the United
States entered World War I. Selling replicas of the original
Flanders' poppy originated in some of the allied countries
immediately after the Armistice.
In Flanders Fields
In Flanders fields
the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns
below.
We are the Dead.
Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our
quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
Lt. Col. John McCrae, M.D.
1872-1918
