Lost veterans honored
Even in pouring rain, hundreds of Gilmer residents gathered to honor slain and missing veterans for Memorial Day.
The crowd stayed for more than an hour to dedicate the Gilmer Veterans Memorial Wall, located at 2150 Old Highway 5, Ellijay.
Many attendees at the Monday, May 25 event were veterans themselves.
“My wife passed away last August,” Vietnam veteran Specialist John Jarrard said. “We always attended the memorial service when she was living.
Jarrard served in the Army as a Communications Chief for the military police.
During his year in Vietnam, he risked his life on convoy duty and was present in Vietnam during the Tet Offensive, one of the largest military campaigns of the Vietnam War.
Although no one he knew died while in service, 13 members of his company died during the war.
“It was very hard, because I was married in June and left in August,” he said. “You’re serving your country, so you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.”
Jarrard joined the Army because he was drafted. He said he feels great grief over American losses in Vietnam.
“I served my country,” he said. “But the way it was handled, it was, to me, all in vain because we just walked away.”
The Gilmer Veterans Memorial Wall is a powerful reminder of the sacrifices veterans have made for the United States.
“From the bottom of our ,” TK said.
The Veterans Memorial Wall stands about six feet tall and includes the names of 80 veterans from Gilmer County.
It also includes the seals of the Air Force, Army, Navy, Space Force, Marines and Coast Guard.
Armed Forces members from Gilmer have served, fought and died in many of America’s conflicts.
There is room on the monument wall to add roughly 800 more names.
In the middle of the wall, a stone monument honors the veterans who have received the Purple Heart for being wounded in combat.
The wall stands in front of the Gilmer Veterans Memorial Bridge.
For many in the audience, the ceremonies brought tears to their eyes.
The dedication featured the reading of a poem honoring veterans, a song about soldiers who have made the ultimate sacrifice, a color guard ceremony, a 21-gun salute, the playing of taps and numerous speakers.
“Something I will never forget is sitting across a folding table from an 18 or 19 or 20-year-old, talking to them about what they wanted in their will,” Judge Jan Wheeler, a veteran who served in the Army, told the crowd.
Before her unit went to Iraq, she helped give soldiers legal advice on getting their affairs in order.
“I will take that memory with me to my grave, the memory of the brave young men and women who came in there, who did what they needed to do,” she said.
Many community organizations came together to work on the monument. The event’s organizers thanked the Gilmer Veterans Memorial Committee, residents who have donated bricks in honor of loved ones, Kasteel Construction, Maynard Earthworkx, Whitener Monuments, Amicalola EMC, the Harrison Foundation, the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Lions Club, the American Legion Riders, the Ellijay Mountain Cruisers, the Pickens County Coin Club, Georgia Power, the City of Ellijay and many other local donors and volunteers all helped create the wall.
The end result offers a powerful and permanent message to those who served.
“It means everything to me,” Jarrard said of the dedication event.