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VVA PLANS CEREMONIES AT TENNESSEE CEMETERY --
Memorial Day and Veterans Day will be
very special this year.
Vietnam veterans spread out at East
Lawn Cemetery Saturday in search of the graves of veterans from
all U.S. wars. (Ned Jilton II photo.) |
Story here...
http://www.timesnews.net/
article.php?id=3724629
Story below:
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Veterans group plans special ceremonies at East Lawn
By CLIFFORD JEFFERY
KINGSPORT - For the local chapter of the Vietnam Veterans of America,
Memorial Day and Veterans Day are going to be special this year.
The group, which formed in June, is already planning the Memorial Day
and Veterans Day ceremonies at East Lawn Cemetery on Route 126 outside
Kingsport.
About 16 of the organization's 111 members have spent the last two
weekends looking for the graves of veterans throughout the cemetery.
The members split into two-person teams. One would spot the grave
markers which belonged to veterans, the other person would write down
all the information.
A list of 558 veterans' names was collected the first weekend. On
Saturday morning, the group met again and expected to find another 300
or 400 veterans' graves.
"We want to identify all the veterans in the cemetery," said Nick
Patrick, chapter president.
Patrick and most of the other Vietnam veterans scouring the cemetery for
names are charter members of the Chapter 979 Vietnam Veterans group.
Though many of them are members of other veterans organizations, such as
Disabled American Veterans, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and American
Legion, the Vietnam vets wanted to establish a bigger presence in
Kingsport.
"There are so many veterans interred at East Lawn, and throughout the
Kingsport area. They deserve to be remembered," he said. "On Memorial
Day, we want this hillside to be a sea of flags."
Before ceremonies at the cemetery, the 979 members and students with the
Sullivan County police scouts will place flags next to all the veterans'
graves.
James Snapp is associate pastor at Central Baptist Church in Kingsport
and is Chapter 979's chaplain.
Snapp served in the U.S. Navy Hospital Corps. during the Vietnam War. He
was busy Saturday locating grave markers that specified a person had
been in the military.
Snapp is a member of the American Legion and DAV, but feels closer to
those who served in Vietnam.
"It was really the forgotten war," he said.
Sam Jones is the family service counselor at East Lawn, and is also a
charter member of Chapter 979.
Jones feels there are many young people who do not know the extent of
the United States' involvement in the Vietnam War.
There is a veteran buried right here in East Lawn who is listed as
having served in Indochina. The Indochina federation was dissolved in
1954 - eight years before Congress gave approval for the U.S. military
to operate in Southeast Asia.
Another local veteran, John Depew was 85 when he died in 1959. He served
in the earliest war of any veteran buried at East Lawn.
DePew, buried behind a statue of Jesus on a hill, served in the Spanish
American War at the turn of the last century.
DePew's marker became a special project for the veterans' group. Patrick
said they cleaned the dirt and grime off the military marker and plan to
put up two markers next to the grave.
DePew was in the Tennessee Second Infantry Regiment. Not much more is
known about the man, Patrick said. Patrick is looking for any living
relatives of DePew to ask permission to display the markers at the
grave.
Jones likes being in a veterans group that seeks to go beyond the usual
honors offered veterans.
Patrick said Chapter 979 will hold ceremonies, not just on Veterans Day
and Memorial Day, but also Flag Day, Armed Forces Day, POW/MIA Day and
the Fourth of July.
Each September, the chapter is hosting a "Welcome Home" picnic for any
veterans who want to come, Patrick said.
Memorial Day will be the biggest event, he said.
"We want to do more than the usual 10- to15-minute ceremony," Patrick
said. "They deserve more than that."
On Memorial Day this year, Patrick envisions having American flags
flying over all the veterans' graves, having a military ceremony in
their honor, and also having displays of military memorabilia. The
displays will include military vehicles from local reserve units, and
personal items. The group also hopes to have a speaker.
Outside the ceremony at the Veterans Administration cemetery in Johnson
City, Patrick expects the program at East Lawn to be the largest in the
region.
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Larry Scott
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