1 week Ago By GENE ZALESKIT&D Staff Writer
Calhoun County will host a Veterans Day celebration on Monday, Nov. 11, in St. Matthews.
"There is a big celebration out here," Reta Westbury of the William Thompson Chapter National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, announced at the Calhoun County Council Sept. 9 meeting. "We are trying real hard to have a big crowd.
" A parade of golf carts will begin at St. Matthews Town Hall at 10 a.m.
It will continue on FR Huff Drive and proceed down to Liberty Street. It will end at the Calhoun County Courthouse complex. All veterans who would like to participate in the parade are asked to meet at the town hall by 10 a.
m. The Calhoun County High School Band and the Junior ROTC will be participating in the parade. Food trucks will also be present.
A celebratory program will be held after the parade at the courthouse complex at the veterans monument. The program will include the presentation and posting of the colors, the National Anthem, Pledge of Allegiance, the state pledge to the South Carolina flag as well as prayers. Prisoners of War and those Missing in Action will be recognized and a tribute will be given to all military branches.
A tribute will also be given to Vietnam veterans, and a wreath presentation will be done for the Daughters of the American Revolution and American Legion. A poem dedicated to veterans will also be read by a Calhoun Academy student. Taps will be played.
The keynote speaker will be Vietnam Veteran Sergeant Major Wallace Gainey, U.S. Army Retired.
Gainey was born in Florence County to a sharecropper family. He had four brothers and four sisters. At the age of 18, Gainey joined the U.
S. Army and served for 26 years. All four of his brothers served in the military.
Gainey had tours at Fort Benning, Fort Sill, Germany, Vietnam, Fort Jackson and the Panama Canal. He served as the senior resource officer training corps at South Carolina State College and became a JROTC training instructor at Calhoun County High School and Pelion High School. Now that he is retired, Gainey enjoys gardening, fishing and spending time with wife and his children.
The rain location will be in the Calhoun County Museum. The museum will also be open from 1 p.m.
to 3 p.m. in order to allow veterans to enjoy veteran related displays.
Westbury asked Calhoun County Council members to go to their districts and find their veterans and ask them to come to the event. She also requested Council members attend the event. Westbury asked the public to inform the county's veterans office about any shut-in veterans who would like to come to the event.
Transportation will be provided. The event will be announced on the county's website and veterans will be encouraged to attend. "If it wasn't for these veterans we would have a mess in this county," Westbury said.
"If you see a veteran with that hat on: tell them thank you for your service because that's important." The Veteran's Day program is also sponsored by the American Legion Post 12, St. Matthews; the VFW Post 10729; Calhoun County Office of Veterans Affairs; Calhoun County High School Junior ROTC and Calhoun County.
contact the writer: [email protected] or 803-533-5551. check out Zaleski on Twitter at @ZaleskiTd.
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