Veterans Day celebrations coming to Rockmart
Brown Wright Post 12 American Legion in Rockmart will present a Veterans Day program at 11 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 11 at the Memorial Park in Downtown Rockmart.
Guest speaker will be Colonel Tony L. Millican, a 1986 graduate of Rockmart High School. He received his degree from Georgia Tech.
Millican was in Saudi Arabia during Operation Desert Storm. While serving in Afghanistan, he survived an explosion of an 80-pound suicide vehicle- borne improvised device at 50 yards away. Even wounded he led a recovery team to rescue over 600 U.S. personnel.
Among other awards, he is the recipient of the Lance P. Sijan Leadership Award - the highest award for leadership in the U.S. Air Force.
Millican, who is married and the father of two daughters, later served as Chief of Survivor Assistance helping surviving family members.
He is now stationed at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Ala.
Post 12 Commander Vaden Underwood will open the Veterans Day program.
Advancement of American colors will include Post 12 Legion Riders. Unit 12 Auxiliary First Vice President Shelia Brinkley will place a wreath at the “Killed in Action” monument.
Underwood will lead the Pledge of Allegiance. Following the invocation, Dale Brumbelow will sing the National Athem.
The benediction will be given by David Duncan followed by a Color Guard rifle salute and taps.
Veterans Day is an official United States federal holiday that is observed annually on November 11, honoring people who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces, also known as veterans.
It coincides with other holidays including Armistice Day and Remembrance Day, which are celebrated in other parts of the world and also mark the anni- versary of the end of World War I (major hostilities of World War I were formally ended at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, when the Armistice with Germany went into effect). The United States also originally observed Armistice Day; it then evolved into the current Veterans Day holiday in 1954.
Veterans Day is not to be confused with Memorial Day; Veterans Day celebrates the service of all U.S. military veterans, while Memorial Day is a day of remembering the men and women who gave their lives and those who perished while in service.