It was a brilliant day. The sun was shining, the wind gently blowing the flags. Darrell White, Commander of the Union County American Legion New Liberty Post 212, opened this year’s somber Memorial Day Ceremony with a list of names of local veterans who passed on this year and last: William Acuff, US Army; Darrell Ailor, US Marine Corps; Jim Collins, US Army; Jack Myers, US Army; Lloyd Railey, US Army; Hershell Sharp, US Air Force; Junior Smith, US Army; Bob White, US Army; Ivon White, US Marine Corps; and my former neighbor Marshal Wolfenbarger, US Army.

Members of the American Legion Post 212 and their volunteers helped the Easter Bunny this year by stuffing plastic eggs for him to hide for Union County children. And hide he did! Over 60 kids descended on Wilson Park on an absolutely gorgeous Easter Sunday afternoon to find these eggs – and, boy, did they!! No matter how well the eggs were hidden, these young people (some with a little help from their parents) found all the eggs. Three of these eggs contained a $50 gift card to Walmart.

Dinners for First Responders, police, sheriff deputies, firefighters and EMTs have been held at the American Legion New Liberty Post Hall to thank them for all that they do for this county. The training that first responders go through and the commitment they must have are remarkable. Disaster relief is also a calling of New Liberty Post 212. Annually, they take clothing to homeless veterans. Initially, they traveled to the VA Mountain Home Hospital in Johnson City. But now they are taking clothing to the Ben Atchley VA Nursing Home in Knoxville.

Sure, I knew that the American Legion New Liberty Post 212 and the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 8682 shared a building up at the end of Veterans St. And I knew that it had something to do with military veterans. But I am not a veteran, nor do I come from a military family. So they really had nothing to do with me, did they? Well, I was wrong. As a community, we need to support these folks who train, work and fight to protect us. What they did was not easy and often left physical, mental and emotional scars. And we need to recognize their dedication to us and our community.