Veterans meet at the Library

The Veterans at the Library “Road Show” met Monday morning at 9 a.m. at the Farmhouse Cafe in Adrian for an outstanding breakfast of bacon, sausage paddies, link sausage, ham, eggs, grits, cat-head biscuits with local syrup, orange juice, milk and coffee. With Chair Johnny Tapley presiding, they had 45 in attendance including seven new veterans, Douglas I MacArthur, Patricia Cathey Radford, Windalyn Joy Hawkins, Linton Elliott Barwick, Ralph J. Page, Jack Stuart Fleming II and Kimberly Susan Fleming. Douglas served in the U.S. Army from February 1967 to December 1970. He was stationed at Fort Benning, Fort Leonard Wood Missouri, Fort Belvoir VA and I Corp Asha Valley Vietnam. Douglas served with the 326th Combat Engineer’s and his highest rank was Captain. Patricia served in the U.S. Air Force from August 1976 to July 1979. She was stationed at Hill Air Force Base in Utah. Patricia served with the 388th Fighter Wing unit assigned to the Air Combat Command Fifteenth Air Force consisting of F-16 Fighting Falcons. Her highest rank obtained was E-4. Windy served in the U.S. Army from August 1977 to October 1985. She was stationed at Fort Hood, TX, Germany and Fort Knox, KY. Windy served with the MEDDAC, Fort Hood TX and the 5th Gen Bad Cansfadt, Fort Hood, TX. Her highest rank obtained was E-5. Linton served in the U.S. Army from 1957 to 1963. He was stationed at Fort Jackson, SC and Fort Campbell, KY. Linton served with the 21st Ordnance Company (EOD WMD). His highest rank obtained was SP-4. Ralph served in the U.S. Army from June 1970 to May 1993. He was stationed in South Vietnam and Saudi Arabia. Ralph served with the 23rd Infantry Division, 176th Assault Helicopter Company, 605th Transportation Company, 611th Transportation Company in Vietnam and then served with the 988th Combat Support Company in Saudi Arabia during Desert Storm. His highest rank obtained was SSG/E-6. Jack served in the U.S. Army from March 1983 to October 2004. He was stationed in Hawaii, Wisconsin, Italy, Oklahoma and Virginia. Jack served with the 13th MEDD and his highest rank obtained was SFC/E-7. Kimberly served in the U.S. Army from February 1983 to March 1989. She was stationed at Fort Sill, OK and Camp Smith, NY. Her highest rank obtained was E-4. Sandra Bailes was the host for the program morning. She introduced Douglas MacArthur who told about a very important program for veterans called “PGA HOPE” which is the professional golf associations “Helping Our Patriots Everywhere”. Volunteers go out and teach veterans how to play golf. Also, on Saturday, December 2, 30 Section Captains met at the Swainsboro City Cemetery at 8 a.m.in the drizzling rain to place over 650 U.S. Flags on the graves of identified veterans to make it easier to place the wreaths on their graves on December 16. To help these 30 veterans out, Veteran Trey Drawdy went to help with a lot of East Georgia State College volunteers. On Saturday, December 2, Chair Johnny Tapley met with Jerry Lawson and five of the Recreation Department workers to help clean up the Veterans and First Responders Memorial Park for their last time. The parks in Swainsboro were taken out from under the Recreation Department and the responsibility for cleanup was taken over by the City of Swainsboro as of December 1. The next Veterans at the Library meeting will be held on Monday, December 11, at 9 a.m. at the Franklin Memorial Library.