Rabun County celebrates Veterans Day

At 11am, a crowd gathered in front of the Rabun County Courthouse to celebrate and honor our veterans.  These chosen few that served in defense of our great country are recognized each year on Nov. 11, which is Veterans Day.  Disabled American Veterans Chapter 15 Commander Doug Wayne lead the celebration and shared these thoughts on the importance of honoring our veterans.  “It is an honor for us to be here to honor our veterans because every day, if you’ve noticed, different things coming out of Washington D.C. and so forth they are trying to take veterans’ rights away from us but most of all it is to honor those who have served their country.  Of course, if this was a Memorial Day service we would be honoring those who have died in the last year and died for our country also. As veterans, most of us are very patriotic and we do not like to see our flags desecrated. It upsets me personally greatly. I get very upset when people do not salute the flag.  They do not show the proper respect for the elderly service people or any elderly person whether they have ever been in service or not. I am very patriotic and that is the way most of us feel that participate in these organizations. We are here to help veterans, we are here to help communities, and we are here to do what we can in any organization.  We cannot, politically, represent any particular organization or person in the political scene but we represent veterans and citizens in their right to vote for whoever they want to vote for because that is one reason we have fought and many of us have died for.” The Veterans Day Ceremony at the Rabun County Courthouse included raising the American Flag and then lowering it to half-mast, the National Anthem, Pledge of Allegiance, the placing of a wreath at the veterans monument, folding the American Flag, the symbols for the folds, a 21-gun salute by the Honor Guard, and the playing of taps.