The annual Veterans Day observance in Nashville will be on Friday, Nov. 11 at 11 a.m.
The brief ceremony will take place on the Howard County courthouse front lawn at the monument to soldiers, sailors and airmen who died in the nation’s wars — WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam and Iraq. All men and women who served in the military will be honored.
The date and time are the same as the original observance of VE Day — Victory in Europe — marking the official surrender of Germany in World War II.
NJHS class to place flags on graves of veterans
By John R. Schirmer
News-Leader staff
Eighth graders at Nashville Junior High School soon will add to the school’s tradition of honoring those who served in the nation’s military.
Students in Mandi Stone’s Career class will place American flags on veterans’ graves at cemeteries in Nashville and surrounding areas. They hope to have the project completed before Veterans Day Nov. 11.
“Our Student Council and Honor Society participate in the Veterans Day program every year at the Howard County Courthouse,” Principal Deb Tackett said. “This is another way we can recognize those veterans who gave so much.”
Tackett said there are flags at the Nashville Cemetery, and one day she “wished we could do it at the County Line Cemetery” west of Nashville.
From there, the idea began to locate as many veterans’ graves as possible at other cemeteries and place flags on them.
Tackett discussed the project with Stone, and they decided to work through the Career class of eighth graders in order to “get more kids involved. The eighth graders already take American history. They’re excited about it,” Stone said.
Among the cemeteries where flags will be placed are Sunset on Leslie Street in Nashville, County Line, Bluff Springs, Center Point, Ozan at Bingen, Mt. Pleasant, Corinth, St. Luke and others.
Tackett has discussed the project with Mineral Springs teacher Shelley Furr, who will work on it with teachers and students there. She also plans to contact Dierks Superintendent Holly Cothren.
“We’ll try to get as many graves marked as we can find,” Tackett said. “We’ll only mark those with veterans commemorative plaques or those that have ‘Veteran’ on the tombstone.”
Dr. Glenn Lance of Nashville Family Dentistry and Brandon Arnold at Latimer Funeral Home will provide the flags for the project, Tackett said.
The flags will be placed Tuesday, Nov. 8, and Wednesday, Nov. 9.
Tackett has already started locating places for the students to place the flags. On a recent visit to County Line Cemetery, she found 21 veterans’ graves on the west side alone.
“My kids are really excited,” Stone said. “They will enjoy it and learn a lot.”
Along with the flags and the Veterans Day community event, NJHS will provide additional recognition for veterans. “We will recognize them at school all next week,” Tackett said. “Students can turn in names,” which will be read over the intercom each day. Both the veteran and the student will be mentioned.
