By Dewey Terrill
JC Post
There will be a Memorial Day service and wreath laying ceremony at 10 a.m. ( CT ) Monday in Washington D.C. at the 1st Infantry Division Monument. Serving as master of ceremonies will be the Executive Director for the Society of the 1st Infantry Division, Phyllis Fitzgerald, Junction City. She noted it is an annual observance for the Society along with representation most years from the Division leadership.
Fitzgerald called it an honor to be part of a historic event that happens every year. "We are doing what we should be doing, which is honoring and remembering all those that have lost their lives for our freedom."
The 1st Infantry Division monument is located adjacent to the White House. "It was erected by the Society of the 1st Infantry Division. It was dedicated by President Calvin Coolidge, Oct. 4, 1924. All the funds for that monument itself have been raised privately by the Society."
Fitzgerald said on the monument walls are the names of 12,947 of our fallen that have lost their lives in war between World War I and Desert Storm. "We've been working for the past several years to get the post 911 names added to that monument, and that's another 631 names."