by Jackie Nunnery
WEEMS—Historic Christ Church in Weems, already standing for more than a century when Memorial Day was first observed in the U.S. in 1868, hosted a Memorial Day Service on Monday, May 25.
In addition to the simple yet reverent service of readings, music and communal singing, program chairman retired U.S. Army Maj. Edgar Doleman spoke of Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, and the “increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion.”
Retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Jeff Hayman spoke of the 1.3 million “of our brothers and sisters who have not come home.” There is a famous, unattributed quote about veterans writing a blank check, “the check that every service man and woman who put on that uniform and takes that oath, gives to their country. It’s a blank check up to an amount including their life. Memorial Day is where, sadly, our nation has had to cash that check.”
Hayman spoke of the vast diversity of those writing those checks….
