The true meaning of Memorial Day can be easily lost among the store discounts and people flocking to area lakes or parks to take advantage of a three-day weekend, but the organizers of Monday's annual ceremony have no trouble remembering.
The ceremony is set to begin at 11 a.m. Monday at the Garland County Veterans Memorial and Military Park located at the south end of Transportation Plaza.
"It's a day to memorialize those who have given all for us," Dick Holden, Veterans Memorial Committee secretary, said Thursday. "To honor all those veterans, past, present and future, who sacrificed all they have, sometimes including their lives, to preserve our freedom and liberty."
The committee members are especially thrilled at their keynote speaker for this year's ceremony, Lt. Col. Hugh Mills, a Hot Springs High School graduate who went on to become one of the most decorated pilots in the Vietnam War.
"This is a big deal for us," Jo West-Davis, committee chairwoman, said Thursday. "He was class president in 1966. He's a war hero. He's a local boy who did really well."
Mills, a 30-year veteran of law enforcement, currently serves as undersheriff of Jackson County, Mo. During his two tours in Vietnam as an aero scout and one as a cobra pilot, he flew more than 3,300 combat hours and developed many of the U.S. Army's air cavalry aero scout tactics.
He was shot down 16 times and wounded three times, earning numerous decorations for valor, including three Silver Stars, the Legion of Merit, four Distinguished Flying Crosses and three Bronze Stars, one for valor in ground combat. The government of Vietnam awarded him the Cross of Gallantry with Silver Star and Palm, the Vietnamese Honor Medal First Class and the Civic Action Honor Medal First Class.
Mills co-authored a book about his experiences in Vietnam, "Low Level Hell: A Scout Pilot in the Big Red One." He retired in 1993 after 26 years of service.
"He will be a big draw," Steve Smith, a Vietnam veteran and committee member, said. "I talked to him earlier and he's real excited about coming here. He was in Vietnam the same time as me. He was in a helicopter and I was in a tank. He's a heck of a guy."
West-Davis said they had about 400 attend the ceremony last year and noted, "It gets bigger every year. We're hoping a lot of (Mills') classmates will come." Smith said he anticipates 500 to 600 this year.
West-Davis said Tom Daniel will provide a tent "to put some of the veterans in if needed. It gets pretty hot out here on Memorial Day." She also noted in the event of rain the ceremony will be moved to The Warehouse, located nearby at 101 Olive St.
Committee members and volunteers were at the site Thursday cleaning up in preparation for Monday. West-Davis said Hot Springs Sod and Turf had also volunteered their services earlier to help keep the memorial "trimmed and cut."
"They saved our plants," she said. "There were a couple of plants I thought were gone and they brought them back. They just have that magic touch. Gave it all new life."
She said 18 new bricks and two new pavers were being dedicated during this year's ceremony. Bricks can be bought to honor a veteran for $100 while pavers come in two sizes, $500 for a 12-by-12-inch paver and $1,000 for the 16-by-16-inch paver.
She noted the sale of the bricks and pavers "is how we raised the money to build the memorial and how we maintain it." The memorial was dedicated on July 4, 2009.
West-Davis said her son, who is in the military, "travels a lot and goes to veterans memorials all over and has said this is one of the prettiest. The marble is very stately."
She said the event should last about an hour. The master of ceremonies will be Walter Thrasher, Memorial Committee vice chairman and the Vietnam Veterans Organization. The Advance and Retirement of Colors will be handled by the VFW Post Post 2278 Honor Guard.
Amy Arego will be singing the national anthem and a special tribute to the veterans. Ross Rumore, retired Marine bugler, will be performing the Bugle Call to Order and taps. Brother Darryle Sulton, of Sulphur Springs Missionary Baptist Church, will deliver the invocation and benediction.
Jackie Davis, committee treasurer, will read the names of new bricks and pavers added and Mike Kidder, with the Vietnam Veteran's Organization, will read the names of those who have passed.
Local on 05/29/2016