Uriah honors veterans with ceremony

URIAH, Ala. (WALA) - As the rain fell outside, the J.U. Blacksher Band set the mood for Uriah’s Veterans Day Ceremony Monday morning, November 12. Poor weather moved festivities into the fire station, but spirits weren’t dampened for the large crowd in attendance.

“We just stepped right up and the fire department was able to move the trucks for us and we were able to get sheltered,” said event organizer Patricia McCullers.

For a community of less than a thousand people, Uriah has a proud tradition of service and Veterans Day is one of their most important events of the year. The pride of this small community is their Veterans Memorial Park which has undergone several improvements after being vandalized in July .

“It’s bigger and better than ever now that the repairs have been made from the vandalism and we look forward to continuing to improve the park," McCullers said.

Retired US Navy Captain Wilson Frye was the honored speaker. Frye spent decades away from his small town home and he spoke of the history of Veterans Day. He reminded the youth in the audience of the sacrifices made by those that came before them.

Disabled Vietnam War veteran, Hybart Bohannon, Jr. appreciated that message.

“It’s just wonderful that they can do that and maybe it will sink in and let them know what the future might come to,” Bohannon said.

Over the decades, the names engraved on the monuments will be weathered by wind and rain, but they’ll stand. That was the message that Captain Frye had for the young ears in the audience - that the memories of our veterans should never fade.

“I hope 50 or a hundred years from now when it’s still standing and people come see it, they’ll look at it and appreciate it like they do at Gettysburg or at Shiloh or at the plains of Belgium,” Frye remarked.

Since the Vietnam Memorial at the park was broken in July, the town has replace it and have added paving to the front of the park.