Flags, wreaths, speeches and taps will provide Poplar Bluff area residents with three opportunities Saturday and Monday to honor those who died while serving in the U.S. armed forces.
Events will begin with services at 9 a.m. Saturday at the veterans section of Poplar Bluff City Cemetery.
At 9 a.m. Saturday, the American Legion Auxiliary will continue a 30-plus year tradition by placing flags on the graves of veterans buried in the veterans section of the Poplar Bluff City Cemetery. At 10 a.m., the American Legion Post 153 will have a special ceremony to which the public is invited to attend.
Veterans, their families and friends will gather at 11 a.m. Monday at the Veterans Wall in front of the Black River Coliseum to remember and honor those military personnel who died in service to their country.
Keynote speaker will be Mike Shane of Poplar Bluff, said Larry Kimbrow, who is retired from the U.S. Navy. Shane is a retired U.S. Army warrant officer and Air Evac pilot. He is a board member for the Poplar Bluff Museum.
Also speaking will be Rebecca Foy, John J. Pershing VA Medical Center acting associate director for patient care services.
Foy has been a nurse for 27 years. Her children are Wesley and Mack. Wesley has served in the navy and now Air Force reserves for 12 years. Mack is on active duty in the U.S. Navy aboard the new navy ship the USS Fort Lauderdale, and is a plank holder.
Foy’s two grandfathers, as well as eight great-uncles, three uncles, father-in-law, brother and two nephews, have served in the armed forces.
“I have worked in an array of nursing positions and working for VA and our American Heroes has by far been my most favorite and rewarding nursing job ever,” Foy said.
Music will include the national anthem and “God Bless America.”
The Legion Riders will post the colors. The POW/MIA Ceremony will be conducted. Kimbrow said Vietnam Veterans, the American Legion and the VFW are all involved in the program.
In case of inclement weather, the veterans service ceremony will be moved indoors to the VFW Post 6477, which is across the parking lot in front of the BRC.
At 3 p.m., Poplar Bluff will join TAPS Across America, a movement which started in 2000 and continues to gain momentum. Local businessman Jerry Hillis will play taps at the Veterans Wall in front of the coliseum for a duration of one minute to remember those who have died in military service to the United States. Ray Dugal, a Navy veteran and former Broseley schoolmate of Hillis, said Hillis often plays taps at military funerals. Hillis owns Fitch Hillis Funeral Home and said he was honored to be asked.
“Veterans are very important to me,” Hillis said. “I have a father and an uncle whose names are on the wall.”
He said his family served in World War II, Korea and Vietnam. His mother-in-law is a Navy veteran of Desert Storm.
“It is important to me to honor our fallen soldiers and our living veterans,” he said.
Dugal served in the navy for four years, spending time in Vietnam at Camp Tien Shaw near DaNang.
He said last year no one locally participated in TAPS Across America so he asked Hillis because, “I knew I could count on him. At 3 o’clock, it’s a nationwide thing. Everybody in our timezone is supposed to play taps.”
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