Family members came out to honor their loved ones. / W.C. Mann
HARTSELLE – On Saturday, military veterans, family and friends gathered for a ceremony of remembrance in Hartselle’s Sparkman Park at the monument to Morgan and Cullman County recipients of the Purple Heart, a medal given to servicemen and servicewomen wounded in combat or to the next of kin of those who die from wounds received in battle. The ceremony is held annually on the weekend closest to Aug. 7, the date in 1782 when Gen. George Washington created the Badge of Military Merit, which later became known as the Purple Heart. The event was sponsored by the Finis J. Self Chapter 2212 of the Military Order of the Purple Heart, the only veterans’ association composed entirely of combat veterans.
The morning’s ceremony involved a keynote address from Major Gen. Alan Elliot of Redstone Arsenal, the veterans’ POW table ceremony led by former POW George Mills and the reading of 150 names from the park monument.
In addition to Elliot, Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur; Rep. Terry Collins, R-Decatur; Morgan County Sheriff Ana Franklin; Cullman County Commissioner Garry Marchman and Hartselle Mayor Randy Garrison were among the dignitaries in attendance. Motorcyclists from the American Legion Riders Post 15 and the Patriot Guard Riders took turns holding a bank of American flags, and Boy Scouts from Cullman’s Troop 321 assisted with general duties around the site. The Army JROTC Color Guard from Priceville High School posted the American flag during the ceremony.
Chapter 2212 President and Vietnam War Special Forces veteran Clifford Gissell announced three additions to the list of names on the monument:
- Bennie Anderson, a Korean War Army veteran who passed away in 2014
- Cordie Lloyd, a WWII Army veteran who passed away in 2016
- Edward Vaughn Harwell, a Vietnam War Army veteran who passed away in 2016
Elliot, in his address, referenced the king’s speech from the Shakespeare play “Henry V,” “One of the King’s generals was lamenting around the campfire how their small force could be so much stronger if more Englishmen had been willing to volunteer. At that time, King Henry stood up, and he stood before his army and he told them, he said, ‘Don’t worry about that. Don’t worry about those men who didn’t come, but to cherish the bond that we now share, of those who did come.’ He said, ‘From this day until the end of the world, but we in it shall be remembered: we few, we happy few, we band of brothers; for he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother.’
“Soldiers have found these words endearing for centuries, because they’re true. There’s a special bond that forms between soldiers when they serve together. I can’t explain it…I can’t explain it; it just happens. No matter what their background is, there’s a bond that’s formed. When they go to war together, especially when they shed their blood together, that bond is strengthened and really can’t be broken. They indeed become, in a very real sense, brothers, and neither the pride of victory or the bitterness of defeat can break apart that family.”
George Mills
Conducting the POW remembrance ceremony was 95-year-old Mills. Here is a man who has truly “been there and done that.”
During WWII, he was a member of the U.S. Army’s 28th Infantry, which came ashore at Omaha Beach in the days following the establishment of the Allied D-Day beachhead and fought its way through the hedgerows of western France on the way to Paris, under the command of Gen. George Patton.
Mills recalled, “When we got to Paris, we marched 24 abreast down the Champs Elysees boulevard, to let everybody know we liberated the main city in Europe. We had (Gen. Dwight D.) Eisenhower, Omar Bradley, Patton and (Charles) de Gaulle was all on the reviewing stand.”
In December 1944, Mills’ fortunes changed as his company found itself facing off against two German divisions near the Germany/Luxembourg border in what would go down in history as the Battle of the Bulge.
“No (Allied) troops within two miles, and two divisions hit us: the Fifth Panzer Division and the 373rd Vanguard Division surrounded our company. And we held them three days.”
On the third day, an inventory check showed that the company had a total of six rounds of ammunition left. At that point, they surrendered. Mills and his fellow soldiers spent the next five months marching across Germany from one POW camp to another, as their captors tried to stay ahead of advancing Allied forces. Eventually, the chase ended as the POWs were liberated by the U.S. 2nd Armored Division.
As he watched people gather to remember the sacrifices he and many others made through our nation’s history, Mills reflected, “I was with my outfit for a little over three years. We lost 75 men; some killed, some wounded. These names we’ve got here are men who gave their lives for the freedom we all enjoy.”
What do you want people to remember about your service?
“That I’m George Mills, and I served my country the best that I possibly could.”
Below are the names that were read at the service.
2017 Memorial Service Names by cullmansense on Scribd
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