SUGAR HILL — Each year on Veteran’s Day, the City of Sugar Hill holds a ceremony to honor our nation’s veterans. This year’s ceremony was extra special with the unveiling of their new Veteran’s Memorial. The City broke ground on the new Veteran’s Memorial in June.
“Sugar Hill’s new Veteran’s Memorial honors the many local veterans that have chosen to call our community home, as well as those that paid the ultimate price and are laid to rest in our historic cemetery,” says City Councilmember Brandon Hembree.
The Veteran’s Day ceremony started at 10:30 a.m. on November 11, 2019, with a patriotic musical performance by the Broadstreet Band. The Color Guard Artillery Display from members of American Legion Post 127 opened the ceremony with a three-gun salute followed by the flag-raising ceremony also conducted by Post 127 of the American Legion.
Event organizer, City Councilmember Brandon Hembree called upon Laura Ann Bigley, retired USMC to give a brief history of the founding of Veteran’s Day. “The war to end all wars” also known as World War I ended on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month when an armistice was reached that effectively ended the war in 1918. Veteran’s Day was first celebrated as Armistice Day on the one year anniversary of the end of the war and is celebrated annually on November 11. In 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower would change the name of Armistice Day to Veteran’s Day.
Mayor Steve Edwards along with Senator Renee Unterman, Representative David Clark, American Legion Post 127 Commander Jon Payne, and the Suwanee Creek Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution each gave a few remarks honoring our nation’s veterans. The Mayor and the President of the Suwanee Creek Chapter DAR placed a wreath at the new memorial in honor of our veterans and the new Sugar Hill Veteran’s Memorial was officially dedicated to our nation’s brave men and women who fought for our freedom.
“When our community comes together, it does so in a very big way,” Hembree states. “It was great to see so many Sugar Hill residents of different backgrounds, young and old, joining together to honor veterans in what was a very community-focused and moving Veteran’s Day Ceremony.”
— By Alicia Couch Payne
