COLUMBUS AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. -- Members of Columbus Air Force Base and the City of Columbus came together Nov. 7 to honor veterans who are serving or who have served in the U.S. armed forces.
Despite the unfavorable weather, the ceremony successfully assembled supporting community members, veterans, and several distinguished visitors.
The distinguished visitors included State Senator Charles Younger and his wife Missy; Harry Sanders, Lowndes County Board of Supervisors President; Councilman Gene Taylor, Vice Mayor of the City of Columbus; Councilman Charlie Box; the Honorable Bill Lawrence, The Mayor of Caledonia, and his wife Rissa; retired Col. Smitty Harris, former Vietnam POW for nearly eight years, and his wife Louise; and Col. Kurt Kayser, 14th Mission Support Group Commander.
Col. John Nichols, 14th Flying Training Wing Commander, was guest speaker for the event.
Columbus AFB Honor guardsmen Senior Airmen Justin Keller, Nadia Armstrong, Rommel Aquino and Airman 1st Class Shelby Scott presented the nation’s colors while Emily Waites, wife of Maj. Michael Waites, 50th Flying Training Squadron Assistant Operations Officer, sang the National Anthem. Jerry Mitchell, pastor of Mt. Vernon Church, then gave the invocation for the ceremony.
A chair was set out to symbolize the empty seat that will always be available for those still missing in action, separated from their loved ones and their freedom. Billy Quick, Commander of American Legion Post 69, placed the POW/MIA chair cover, while retired Lt. Col. Richard Johnson, 14th FTW Public Affairs director, spoke the prayer.
Alice Stallworth Lancaster, Regent of the Bernard Romans Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution, read off the 22 names of fallen service members listed on the right plaque of the monument standing in front of the Lowndes County Courthouse and rededicated the memorial.
“Nothing is really ended until it is forgotten,” Lancaster said. “Whatever is kept in memory still endures. Therefore, we the members of the Bernard Romans Chapter, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, members of the American Legion Auxiliary T. S. Patterson Unit 69, the citizens of Lowndes County, Mississippi, and guests, re-dedicate this marker in grateful recognition of the significance of this site. May it help to keep alive an appreciation of our heritage.”
Nichols started his speech educating the audience on the history of Veterans Day. He proceeded to name several service members whom he felt have shown they fulfilled the special kind of commitment military service demands.
“Veterans like you, and like the ones I just described are part of a legacy and must never be taken for granted,” Nichols said. “To honor our veterans, we must continue to keep the promises we have made. We must care for those injured in the service of our country. We must support the families of our deployed members. We must honor and remember those who have died.”
Nichols then Quoted General George Washington who said, "The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by our nation."
“I can say emphatically, that there is no better community for veterans,” Nichols said. “The majority of veterans we recognize today ... whether they wear the uniform today, or wore it decades ago, represent an unwavering dedication and exemplify the highest standards of service to our nation.”
Nichols closed with a quote from President Abraham Lincoln who in his Second Inaugural Address in 1865 said, “With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”
Sanders, Nichols and Taylor then proceeded to lay a wreath upon the Lowndes County Courthouse Veterans Memorial, symbolizing the veterans of every branch who have served and are currently serving in today’s armed forces, and offered their respects.