A ceremony to remember

Yesterday’s ceremony at Veterans Memorial Plaza, was one of a series of scheduled events designed to draw visitors to “The Wall That Heals”, during the Wall's five-day stay in Apalachicola before departing the city this Sunday to continue on its national tour.

Franklin County’s school aged kids from various public, private, and chartered schools took the day off to visit the Wall and participate in the ceremony.

The kids not even in existence during the Vietnam conflict, danced, stepped, and song with such enthusiasm that it left me feeling especially grateful toward all the men and women who have fought so that our country can remain the land of the free.


More importantly, the kids left me with a renewed sense of hope, hopeful that when their generator take over the reins of government, that unlike previous generations, they will see fit to eliminate the need for war, hatred and poverty.

As well as with the other kids, Tommie Lee Dowden, a senior at Franklin County School took part in the ceremony by reading a poem about Clifford Millender of Carrabelle. During the Vietnam War, Millender, a relative of Dowden, whose name appears on the Wall, gave his life in the fight for our freedom.

Closing out Friday’s ceremony with a beautiful rendition of Kristi Moore’s American Tears, was Ashley Carroll, a seventh-grader at the Franklin County School.