Memorial Day service draws area veterans

By Erin McGrath

Published: May 28, 2008

Under clear blue skies and a bright summer sun, more than a dozen veterans from various wars and conflicts gathered for a Memorial Day service on the Nelson County High School football field.

And for the first time, the grey and red coats of Civil War reenactors were seen among the green, white and blue U.S. military uniforms on the field.

“Memorial Day started with the Civil War,” Billie Coleman, of Nelson County, said.

Coleman is part of the Nelson Grays Camp #2123, a Civil War Reenactment group, that participated for the first time in the service held observing Memorial Day in Nelson County.

The Nelson Greys carried the flags onto the field at the beginning of the ceremony, which was sponsored by the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 7701 and the American Legion Post 17.

John Stewart, of Amherst, was keynote speaker at the event. He is a retired veteran who served for more than 20 years in the United States Air Force.

Speaking to a crowd of less than 50 people, Stewart said Memorial Day was set aside to remember those who died in military service and it’s meaning is being lost on the younger generations of Americans.

“Service members young and old die every day in service to this country,” Stewart said. “It is our responsibility to make sure those who died… didn’t die in vain.”

Wayne Ferguson, a World War II veteran, read more than 150 names of those from Nelson County who had died in the Civil War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War during the ceremony.

Red, white and blue flowers were placed at the Veteran’s Memorial marker on the football field, followed by the playing of Taps and a rifle salute.