Our Honor Guard will be participating at the 11 am ceremony at the Wilson County Veterans Plaza (304 E Main St, Lebanon, TN 37087) and at Noon an Honor Guard detachment will be at Mission BBQ (Opry Mills, 161 Opry Mills Dr, Nashville, TN 37214) to present the colors and our own David Hale signing the National Anthem for their ceremony.
Please come out and join us!
Memorial Day in Mt. Juliet came with thundershowers and yet the mood was not dampened at all, due to the collective warmth of our individual memories of those fallen heroes in the wars America has fought to maintain freedom in our great country. Bond Chapel held the ceremony inside where the crowd was patriotically synthesized by the singing of Jordans Shore and Chief James Hambrick. The Tyler Cates American Legion Post 281 in Mt. Juliet provided the honor guard to present the colors and fire the 21 gun salute. Our honor guard has gained great renown over the state of Tennessee and is in high demand for funerals and ceremonies involving the military.
Retired US Army Major Pat Unger gave the address. Pat is also Post Commander for Mt. Juliet American Legion Post 281. He gave the memorial address honoring those who have fallen in all our wars. Pat reminded us they are not statistics, but rather real people with real families who miss them this Memorial Day, where their chair at the table is still empty. He reminded us that Memorial Day is a day of remembrance “care for him who shall have borne the battle and his widow and his orphan ”. Quoted from President Abraham Lincoln’s second inaugural address, given March 4, 1865, at Washington, D.C. We were further reminded that it is a day to give thanks as we owe that to those who served and died to keep us free.
We are again indebted to Andy Bond and his staff at Bond Memorial Chapel for hosting this event now for 18 years. The crowd was treated to refreshments after the presentation ended. Seated at the podium was Andy Bond, Jim Austin, Pastor of Victory Baptist Church, Chief James Hambrick, Mt. Juliet Police Chief and Pat Unger, Commander of American Legion Post 281 of Mt. Juliet. In this photo the head of the man closest to the photographer is of 96 year old Max Anderson, a US Navy World War II veteran.
Richard Huffman
Public Information Officer
Tyler Cates American Legion Post 281
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On a chilly yet sunny day, perhaps a few more than 100 souls ventured out to a remote section (in Trousdale County, Tennessee) of the Cumberland River, 10 miles north of Lebanon, at Averitt’s Ferry, to honor 21 U. S. Army veterans of World War II, who perished in that river, seventy years ago this very day.
The sister of one of the fallen was on hand along with several dignitaries from Wilson County, who assisted retired U. S. Army Colonel Jerry Mc Farland, and author Woody McMillan (author of In the Presence of Soldiers http:// tennesseemaneuvers.wordpress.com/about/), to honor the 21 soldiers who drown attempting a cross of the river on a stormy night in early Spring of 1944. Assisted by the Boy Scouts of America, and a contingent of active U. S. Army reservists, and led by the crisp and elegantly attired Honor Guard of the American Legion Post 281, of Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, all paid their respects to the memory of these brave lads who died on maneuvers that fateful night.
Young men (19 to 28 years of age) sent to war because of evil aggression overseas, from 10 different states, went into the Cumberland to make a river assault, and perished. The last victim was pulled from the Cumberland River at the Broadway area of downtown Nashville, one month later, and 81 nautical miles from where he first went into the cold and swollen river.
The National Anthem, Taps and a volley of honoring fire By American Legion, Tyler Cates Post 281, aided the somber ceremony. Honoring veterans is never out of fashion. We owe so very much to veterans of all branches of the U. S. armed forces, who offered their life in harm’s way, for the preservation of peace for America. This ceremony was a perfect example of how America can remember..!
Richard Huffman
PIO, Tyler Cates American Legion Post 281 Mt Juliet, TN
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