Veterans Day extra special for some this year

100th anniversary of armistice to end WWI draws good crowd to Myrtle Hill.

While Veterans Day has a special place in the heart and soul of those who have served in the military, or have had loved ones that fought for the freedom Americans enjoy today, the service in Rome Sunday was particularly meaningful to a few local veterans.

Buck Crosby is hoping the remains of his brother Lloyd Crosby are among those returned to the U.S. by North Korea earlier this year. Edgar Lary came out to the program Saturday and wanted to pay special tribute to a veteran who took him in as a child, and Houston Miller himself served in the Navy on the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor.

Crosby served in the Army after the Korean War and said his brother was captured during that war near the Demilitarized Zone.

“That’s where he stayed,” Crosby said. “This year was better than the last 20 years.”

Crosby said he had gone to Washington each of the last 20 years to exhort leadership there to do everything possible to bring home the remains of those who have been listed as missing in action for over half a century.

Crosby said on this 100th anniversary of the armistice that ended World War I he felt it was more important to be with brother veterans than in church on this one occasion.

Edgar Lary served with the Eight Army Headquarters Company as a Combat Medic during the Vietnam War. He was drafted out of college and served six years. He said the Army put him in the medical corps based on test scores.

“They told me I could shoot you with my right hand and heal you with my left,” said Lary

Lary said he came from a broken family and met Houston Miller who was on the USS Arizona and got off three days before it was sunk at Pearl Harbor. The two connected at a restaurant where Lary was working and Miller invited Lary to come live at his home.

“I went from being homeless to graduating from Armuchee High School,” Lary said. He said he just couldn’t go back to school after six years of service and is the recipient of a sharpshooter medal.

Lary was subsequently honored for his service with a proclamation from Governor Nathan Deal.

Bob Bennett, 92, was the lone World War II veterans at the services Sunday and he played Taps to end the program. He served in the Army in the Philippines and spent 14 months in Osaka, Japan.

“At my age, it’s an honor to be here,” Bennett said.

Richard Hunt, the chaplain for American Legion Post Five in Rome, served on the USS Ranger during the Vietnam War and said that looking back, “I understand the cost of that war that took the lives of so many young men in such terrible situations.” The weapons they used and the gas, it just decimated men or ruined their lives if they survived.

Brad Huckaby was one of the younger veterans at Myrtle Hill Cemetery Sunday. He served with the Marine Corps in the Iraq War. He served from 1999 to 2007. He said he wanted to honor those who came before him and those who have yet to serve.

“Combat was not that bad for me, it was just being away from home,” Huckaby said.

In lieu of a formal speaker this year, the Model High band played a number of patriotic tunes to entertain the crowd which organizer Steve Rood said was good given the fact the service fell on a Sunday this year.

ABOVE: Bob Bennett, 92, a World War II veteran, the only WWII veteran at the Rome Veterans Day service, played taps to end the ceremony.

LEFT: The crowd at attention during the raising of the U.S. flag during the Veterans Day service at Myrtle Hill Cemetery Sunday.

Photos by Doug Walker BELOW: Korean War veteran Charles Patterson lays a wreath at the Tomb of the Known Soldier during the service.

Buck Crosby, who served from in the Army from 1956-1963 was among the many veterans at the Veterans Day service in Rome Sunday He’s hoping that the remains of his brother Lloyd Crosby are among those that have been returned to the U.S. by North Korea recently.

/ Doug Walker Army veteran Edgar Lary was at the Veterans Day ceremony Sunday, in part to honor the man who took him in as a child, Houston Miller, who served aboard the USS Arizona prior to the bombing at Pearl Harbor.