Wednesday’s good works editorial
highlights the efforts of the local Veterans Affairs office, which served more
than 8,000 veterans last year:
Wendell Allen, Veterans Affairs
officer for Horry County, at work in the former Cochran
School building in Conway, is not far from his boyhood home.
Allen was “born and raised about two miles down the road” on what is known as
the old Lonnie King farm where his father was a sharecropper.
Following a distinguished career in
the Air Force, Allen was hired as Horry
County’s veterans officer in 2008 and “the
first thing I did was move” the office from its downtown Conway location to the former school
building, also the headquarters of the Parks and Recreation Department.
Wednesday’s editorial highlights the
good work being done by the local branch of the Military Officers Association
of America:
With the commissioning of four new
Army officers at Coastal Carolina University the other day, the Grand Strand
Chapter of the Military Officers Association of America has four more members
to celebrate the chapter’s “5 Star Level of Excellence” award from the national
MOAA.
Roger Pilcher, president of the Grand
Strand Chapter, presented 2nd lieutenant gold bars to Derrick C. Barcliff,
Anson T. Cavanagh, Justin M. Jackson and Chase H. McCabe. With their first gold
bars, the new Army officers from the ROTC program at CCU receive the first year’s
membership in national MOAA and the chapter. The Reserve Officers Training
Corps program at Coastal is one of the many activities in which Grand Strand
Chapter members participate.
Sunday’s editorial offers the
editorial board’s thoughts on the presidential election:
Few things about this presidential
election have lent themselves to unambiguous, clear decisions, despite what the
campaigns and their diehard supporters might like us to believe. Neither of the
major candidates is a miraculous savior or unmitigated fiend. Both stand before
U.S.
voters with significant high and low points, and nobody has managed to leap to
the fore as the obviously better choice.
For proof, you need look no further
than the latest polling data. We give our fellow Americans credit for being
fairly smart and invested in the future of this nation, and as such, if the
decision on picking our next leader were an easy one, we wouldn’t be coming
down to the wire with two candidates that are still neck and neck.
Horrific crimes capture our interest,
no matter where they are committed. They illustrate, perhaps, the threads that
connect human beings regardless of geography, religion or other demographic
factors that separate us.
Consider two awful crimes separated
by the great distance between Colorado on the
Great Plains of the United States
and Pakistan.
Wednesday’s editorial encourages participation
in the upcoming Gold Star Mothers Day:
Sponsors of the area’s observance of
National Gold Star Mothers Day ran into some difficulty in identifying the
women to be honored – those who have lost a son or daughter serving on active
duty in one of the military services of the United States.
“We haven’t had the response we hoped
for,” says Sharon Russell, past president of Blue Star Mothers of Coastal
Carolina. Invitations were mailed to several known Gold Star Mothers in Horry, Georgetown, Florence and Marion counties. Only
four accepted the invitation to attend the recognition ceremony at Moose Lodge
1959 on Burcale Road,
Myrtle Beach. As of Tuesday,
others were still considering. “Some may not know what to expect” at the
ceremony, Russell says. Some may have concerns about the painful reminder of
the lost loved one.
Forty-seven years ago, while
returning from a combat mission in southern Laos, the crew of the AC-47D
aircraft nicknamed “Spooky” sent out a mayday signal. Contact was never
re-established, and despite two days of searching, neither the plane nor the
remains of the six men aboard -- including Col. Derrell Jeffords of Florence -- were found.
Last year, after years of patient and
painstaking investigation and excavations by the Defense Department, the
remains of all six were at last discovered and identified. In July, Jeffords
and the rest of the crew were buried with full military honors at Arlington National
Cemetery in Washington, D.C.
Tuesday’s editorial pleads for a
little more restraint when it comes to our anger at the violence against our
interests in the Middle East:
In the wake of last week’s violent
protests in the Middle East, including one that left four U.S. Embassy workers
dead in Libya,
many in our area have been understandably incensed. The brutal actions were
reprehensible and deserve swift and unerring justice. But while justifiably
enraged at these indefensible attacks, some have unfortunately quickly turned
the blame on the entire Islamic faith or Arab race.
Tuesday’s
editorial urges readers to use today’s anniversary of Sept. 11 as a day of
service to help others:
Many across the nation will wake up
today and remember it as a day of tragedy, as a day of national mourning
commemorating the loss of thousands of innocent lives in the terrible terrorist
attacks that occurred 11 years ago this morning. And it is vital that we
remember, so that we can both honor those who lost their lives and so that we
can continue the efforts to prevent future atrocities.
To that end, there will be ceremonies
and memorials up and down the Grand Strand today. Myrtle Beach will dedicate a new memorial at
Broadway at the Beach. The retired law enforcement officers in the Coastal
Carolina Shields will host a memorial in the Hall of Heroes at the Ocean Dunes
hotel. North Myrtle Beach will hold a
candlelight vigil at the Ocean
Boulevard horseshoe, complete with 21-gun salute.
Any of these events, or any of the many others that take place, would be well
worth your time.
Sunday’s editorial honors the 93 S.C. troops that have given their lives in service in our recent conflicts:
The Memorial Day observances taking place this weekend stretch back at least to the Civil War, when widows and veterans decorated the graves of the fallen. Shortly after the war, in 1868, Gen. John A. Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, issued a general order calling for flowers to be placed on the graves at Arlington National Cemetery. His eloquent words in honor of the brave troops who died on both sides still stir our hearts today:
“We should guard their graves with sacred vigilance. All that the consecrated wealth and taste of the nation can add to their adornment and security is but a fitting tribute to the memory of her slain defenders. Let no wanton foot tread rudely on such hallowed grounds. Let pleasant paths invite the coming and going of reverent visitors and fond mourners. Let no vandalism of avarice or neglect, no ravages of time testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and undivided republic.”
Thursday’s editorial continues the military theme as we walk up to Memorial Day:
Recovering injured combat veterans from Washington area military medical centers arrive today for a six-night visit including participation in several events wrapping up Military Appreciation Days and the Memorial Day weekend.
An estimated 57 visitors will be the largest number thus far on the visits arranged by Scents for Soldiers. “I’m pretty confident we’ll have a bus full – 57 [service veterans wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan] – this time,” says Christina Shealy, founder of Scents for Soldiers. “The most we’ve done on the bus trips is 37.” This is the sixth bus trip, and Scents also has brought injured service people here in small groups.
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