Overcast skies and some rain didn’t stop North Augusta’s annual observance of Veterans Day this year. Last year’s event had to be canceled because of COVID-19.
All branches of the service were represented for the event at Wade Hampton Veterans Park along Georgia Avenue. Sponsored by American Legion Post 71, the event included the North Augusta Junior ROTC cadets as color guards and flag-bearers.
This year’s address was given by City Administrator Jim Clifford, who served in the U.S. Army for over 20 years, including as Garrison Commander at Fort Gordon.
Clifford reflected on the service men and women have provided throughout America’s military history.
“Our nation requires generations of men and women willing to go to distant lands, as the Korean War Memorial in Washington says, ‘To defend countries they never knew and people whom they’ve never met,’” said Clifford. “They put on a uniform and they put their lives on the line in Normandy, the Pacific Islands, in the jungles of Vietnam, on the frontiers of the Cold War and peacekeeping operations that followed it.”
Among dignitaries attending was state Rep. Bill Hixon (R-North Augusta).
“We don’t want to forget the people that’s fought and died for us,” he said. “My dad was in the military. He survived, but he got shot. And I want to honor him and all the good men and women that have made this country what it is today.”
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Among veterans who attended the observance was Isiah Walker, who served in Vietnam, a conflict whose servicemen and women who did not receive the homecoming welcomes that are so common today. Attending observances such as this helps, he said.
“This made me feel much better. Made me feel good to know that someone didn’t count me out,” he said.
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Keeping with tradition, the names of veterans of Post 71 who have died in the past year were read. This year, 18 names were read.
The observance ended with more tradition, a 21-gun salute and the playing of “Taps.”
Dana Lynn McIntyre is a Staff Reporter with The Augusta Press. You can reach her at dana@theaugustapress.com
