Chaplains to speak at Memorial Day events in Shannon and at fairgrounds.
♦ Speakers for both ceremonies are both military chaplains.
Two big programs to mark Memorial Day are scheduled Monday. The Rome Exchange Club will host a major event at the Coosa valley Fairground while the annual Shannon Memorial Day event will take place at the flagpole outside the office mill office building off Burlington Drive.
The Memorial Day observance in Shannon is one of the oldest continuously held programs in the nation. It was started to commemorate the sacrificial service of 12 employees of the old Brighton Mill who died during World War II.
This year will mark the 72nd anniversary of the placement of a memorial at the flagpole in front of the old mill honoring J.D. Braswell, Daniel Garlin, William Grady Ledford, A.Q. Moss, Charlie R. Neese Jr., Otis Brown Orsbion, Howard A. Phillips, William C. Quarles, Ben Ridley, Jack A. Gunter, Albert W. Goodwin and William H. Sluder.
Once again this year, U.S. Corps of Chaplains Lt. Gen. William “Billy” Brown will address the audience.
Brown was a Boy Scout who helped with the ceremonies at the dedication of the monument in 1946. He was a paratrooper during the Korean War and has just returned to live in the Rome area on a full-time basis.
Brown said he would be speaking about the freedom that was preserved by all of those who have made the ultimate sacrifice.
“If one country, if they are a friend of ours, is under siege, the only way we can keep them out of our front yard is to help them out,” Brown said.
The program at the Coosa Valley Fairgrounds will begin at 9 a.m. and continue through 2 p.m. The main program will be held at 11 a.m. with Chaplain Maj. Gen. (retired) Douglas L. Carver, an East Rome High graduate who serves as executive director of chaplaincy for the North American Mission Board.
The event will be held in the Palladium building on the fairground.
Military displays from the Duke Museum of Military History will be at the fairground along with the Exchange Club’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier replica and the Georgia Fallen heroes monument from Manchester, Georgia.