The Memorial Day ceremony went well, I think. The Starkville Daily News said there were about 100 people present but I printed 175 programs, noticed that not everyone had one, and only came with about 5. So, I estimate we had about 200 or so.
The keynote speaker was Col. Mark Brown from the Columbus Air Force Base and he did an excellent job. I have been to some places where speeches were pretty much canned but Col Brown obviously did some research. He mentioned several local people in his speech, including Cpl. Taylor McDavid who died in Iraq a few weeks ago and whose wife and parents were in the audience.
The other highlight was the reading of the names listed on the monument as having died in previous wars. In the past we have had representatives from the veteran’s organizations read the names but the Military Affairs Committee wanted to have citizens read the names. The intent was to move away from veterans recognizing veterans. We had Matt Cox a Starkville alderman read along with Greg Stewart, General manger of Aurora Flight Sciences and president of the Base Community Council. I appreciated what they both did but to me the highlight was having Mary Todd Pittman, a student at Starkville Academy read. Seeing young people like her step up and do things like that renew my faith in students.
Carey Hardin and Gary Dedeaux did a fly-by in their vintage aircraft right after the wreaths were laid and the flag was raised. It was a nice gesture and I’m glad they were able to do this for the second year in a row.
The only problem was the heat. Next year we are planning to hold the ceremony earlier in the day to avoid the worst of the heat.
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