ROCKINGHAM — Members of the Rockingham VFW Post 4203 Auxiliary are prepping for Saturday’s Memorial Day service.
Donny Sweatt, Mary Tyler and Eileen Kinsey spent Thursday and Friday placing small U.S. flags in Veterans Memorial Park, across from the VFW Post on Old River Road.
The park, which sits across from the post, is named in memory of Corey “Yank” Gibbon Jr., who served in the U.S. Army in Vietnam and was awarded the Purple Heart, according to Sweatt. Gibbon died in 2013 and has a memorial marker at the park.
Saturday’s service begins at 11 a.m. and will include a wreath-laying by Richmond County’s veterans organizations and a three-shot volley and flag-folding ceremony by AMVETS Post 316.
Arts Richmond will also have a mural at the post that is in progress for people to sign up and contribute to.
There will be a meal served at the post immediately following the service.
On Sunday, there will be a memorial service for late George Hoag, who served as a B-17 pilot during World War II. The service will be held at 3 p.m. at the VFW Post.
World War II B-17 pilot George Hoag will be honored at a memorial service Sunday. – Contributed photo
There have also been flags already placed near headstones at Richmond County Memorial Park in advance of the national holiday.
Volunteers placed a “sea of flags” on the graves of veterans in the cemetery on Tuesday, according to a post by Ed O’Neal on the What’s Up Richmond County Facebook page.
The tradition was started more than 30 years ago by the late Jimmy Brigman, a twice-wounded Army veteran who served during World War II and Korea.
Before he died, Brigman passed the torch to O’Neal, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel.
“Special thanks to Chad Woody and his team at Richmond Memorial Park working with Beta Club students and other volunteers, (who) placed flags on the graves of veterans today,” O’Neal posted. “It is (a) sea of flags across this place in remembrance of those who served in our military and have passed on.”
Earlier this month, O’Neal posted that there were 1,500 flags to place on the graves of veterans across the county.
