Letter to the Editor
Cullman area military veterans will be having a busy month in May as we prepare to remember and to honor our nation’s war dead. During the days preceding the official holiday, the VFW will place 250 American flags in the median of Highway 31 to decorate our city. The VFW and American Legion will place miniature flags on over 900 veterans’ graves in Cullman Cemetery. At 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 27, The Disabled American Veterans will host a Memorial Ceremony at the pavilion in Veterans Park at Sportsman Lake in a solemn tribute to the fallen. On Memorial Day itself, the VFW will be accepting donations at both Wal-Marts for local disadvantaged veterans, who need our help.
Our American military men and women have been fighting continuously since 2001, not to mention Desert Storm and a host of other conflicts before that. Sometimes we forget all this is going on while we enjoy this peaceful life here at home. Some have said our troops are at war while America is at the mall! There is a cost for our freedom and some local Cullman citizens have borne that cost. Their names are on those cemetery headstones. Their names are on those monuments in Veterans Park. Their family members and friends would like to know you care. Your veterans would like to know that too. Your kids and grandkids should learn the true meaning of this holiday we call Memorial Day. This is your chance to teach them. Drive them through the cemetery to see the 900 flags. Bring them to the May 27 ceremony in Veterans Park. The mall will be there for the rest of your year.
Ken Brown, Colonel, USAF (RET)
