Photo By Megan Gully | As the names of 149 Morgan and Cullman county Purple Heart recipients’ names are...... read more read more
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HARTSELLE -- A bell rang 149 times Saturday morning in Hartselle.
Every ring served as a reminder of the 149 Morgan and Cullman county Purple Heart recipients who were either killed in action or wounded and passed on later in life.
The annual ceremony, held at the Hartselle Purple Heart Monument, is sponsored by the Finis J. Self Military Order of the Purple Heart, Unit 2212. Every August, the group brings together families, community members and local leaders to remember the fallen.
“When this chapter was organized we made a promise to the families of the names on the monument,” Chapter President John Gissell said. “It is important that we acknowledge these warriors and say their names out loud, that we affirm their existence and the fact that they fought for us and what this country stands for.”
This year’s ceremony added three new names to the list read, Bennie Anderson a Korean War veteran, Cordie Loyd, World War II, and Edward “Vaughn” Harwell, Vietnam War. These men were a part of a special brotherhood as Maj. Gen. Allan Elliott, U.S. Army Materiel Command deputy chief of staff, said.
“There is a special bond that forms between Soldiers when they served together … especially when they shed their own blood together,” Elliott said. “To all those who wear the Purple Heart, those who shed their blood, our nation owes a debt of eternal gratitude.”
Elliott spoke specifically about three service members whose names were read. Ottis Alford, who fought in Korea, his name is on a monument in Seoul, remembered by the nation he helped free. Jon-Erik Loney, who volunteered to serve knowing America was in the middle of two wars and was killed in Iraq. And Johnny Sewell who died in Vietnam only a year after being drafted.
“We owe them the promise to never forget,” Elliott said. “To care for their families, and to honor their sacrifices by keeping America a land for the free.”
In addition to the reading of the names, World War II veteran and prisoner of war George Mills did a presentation on the “empty table” which symbolizes American warfighters that are MIA or POW. The Princeville High School JROTC posted the colors and singer ENell Baker sang an original song, “Spirit of America.”
| Date Taken: | 08.05.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 08.07.2017 14:10 |
| Story ID: | 244050 |
| Location: | HARTSELLE, ALABAMA, US |
| Web Views: | 84 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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