September 11 Patriot Day Memorial Service honors U.S.A and its service

The fourteenth anniversary of the Muslim attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon was the occasion for a Patriotic Day Memorial Service Friday in New Albany.

Patriotic songs were sung, wreaths were placed honoring soldiers who served in 12 American wars during the last 239 years, and a patriotic speech recalled past sacrifices and warned of current dangers.

Wreaths were placed to honor soldiers who served in 12 U.S. wars, including the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, World Wars I and II, Korea, Vietnam and the current War on Terrorism.

Some arrived early for the Patriotic Day Memorial Service, Friday, Sept 11, 2015, at the Cine Theater in New Albany

About 160 Union County people participated in the service at noon, September 11, 2015. American Legion Potter-Henry-Lowrey Post and Unit 72 sponsored the event at the Cine Theater in downtown New Albany.

Gloria Bennett placed one of the wreaths in honor of an ancestor who fought in the American Revolution.

Praise for those who have served in U.S. wars from the American Revolution in 1776 to the ongoing war on terrorism was mixed with condemnation of current national leadership from the invocation by Rev. Jeff Lawrence to the benediction by American Legion Bobby Irvin.

Chancery Judge Talmadge Littlejohn was the keynote speaker. While Chancellor Littlejohn has been the subject of a couple of controversies having to do with orders he has issued from the bench in recent years, no one left the Cine Friday afternoon with doubts about Talmadge Littlejohn being a learned man, an orator well-skilled in the English language.

Union County Collector Randy Dunnam sang the National Anthem and led the audience in singing “God Bless America”.

Anne Stephens, Ann Hill and William Hill were among about 160 present at the Patriotic Day Memorial Service.

Whether speaking extemporaneously or from his prepared notes, he was in full command of what he had to say and how he said it. Littlejohn related his remarks to specific listeners in his audience, recalling the military service of audience members and their relatives and remembering attending a movie decades ago in the same Cine Theater, with someone who was also present as he spoke Friday.

Retired Presbyterian Pastor Bill Everett was among those who attended the Patriotic Service.

The chancellor condemned what he sees as failures of leadership, policy and action at the national level. A particularly memorable sentence was his denunciation of “the proposed deal with Iran, selling out to a little wart of a nation sworn to destroy the United States.” Nothing squeamish and not a single bow to political correctness.

Seemed to us that, if he had asked for them, the judge could have gotten a few dozen enlistments then and there to fight for freedom and seek out and destroy our enemies.