Next week’s Fourth of July celebration marks the second of three holidays in which the United States honors those who have given much to make our country great, along with Memorial Day in May and Veterans Day in November. Memorial Day, especially, honors military veterans who are no longer living.
The Memorial Day Weekend in Auburn involves a heartfelt expression of gratitude to veterans from that proud community who are deceased, many of whom are buried in Auburn Cemetery. A ceremony has been held at a designated area in the cemetery ever since a limestone monument was erected and a plot designated for the Unknown Soldier was dedicated in 1950.
The observance is always on the Sunday afternoon before Memorial Day on Monday.
This year’s gathering was especially memorable because of the erection of a new monument to replace the original structure. It was on full display on this Sunday in May, along with some bright new crosses.
Connor Woodward, who will be a senior at Logan County High School this year, led the effort to make the new monument a reality as his Eagle Scout project. He is a member of Boy Scout Troop 47 in Franklin.
Connor is the son of Alan and Beverly Woodward of Auburn. His dad said that Connor has great respect for the military because his grandfathers, former Simpson County Judge-Executive Kenneth ‘Chico’ Harper and the late Minor Woodward, were veterans, as was his late great-uncle, the late Scotty Woodward.
Auburn American Legion Post 258 was in charge of the original ceremony and continues to oversee the area and the ceremony in 2017.
The idea for the monument and the ceremony originated in a meeting of the Auburn Cemetery Association on May 1, 1947, when President J.H. Bumpus appointed a committee to arrange for a Memorial Day Service at the cemetery. That committee included Mrs. Claude Peart, K.F. Shannon, M.C. Neal, and Roger Clark. It wasn’t until the April 7, 1949 meeting that the committee voted to talk to Garland Lucas about getting a plot of ground to use for an Unknown Soldier Grave.
According to Cemetery Association records maintained by Mrs. Peart in those days, “An impressive monument of Native Limestone (stone having been donated by Claude Peart) was erected. The plot was beautifully sodded with Kentucky Bluegrass, a cross for each soldier buried in the Auburn Cemetery set in the enclosure.”
That 1950 monument had weathered in the two-thirds of a century that has passed. Many people and groups helped Connor Woodward’s goal come true. In addition to fund-raising activities, contributions came from the Legion, the communities of Bowling Green and Franklin in addition to Auburn, and members of the Rolling Thunder. Joey Young of Young Monument Company was involved in providing the proper monument and cuts on it.
The speaker at the first two ceremonies was Auburn Cumberland Presbyterian Church Pastor Russell Tatum speaking in 1950 and ’51.
This year’s speaker was retired military officer Darrel Crawford. He praised deceased veterans for their “love of country, patriotism and home.”
The National Anthem and other patriotic music was played on the trumpet by Kaytlyn Thompson. James Powell led a prayer.
Among those honored were Martha Neal, who served as a Navy WAVE in World War II, and Bob Wylie, who long ago served in the United States Naval Construction Battalions, better known as the Seabees during that same War. WWII era veteran Grover Corum was also present.
At the 2016 observance, Legionnaire Barry Reed read the names of known war veterans buried in Auburn Cemetery at that time. These were the names he listed:
Mexican War: W.W. Crewdson
Spanish American War: Shelby Simmons
Civil War: Z. Nelson, A.S. Aull, J.A. Parker, S.C. Edmondson, Jesse McCormick, T.B. McKenzie, H.C. Hayes, A.T. Duffer, T.J. Shannon, J.H. Phalan, William Kingston, Cleve Matthews
World War I: Thorn Hughes, Jewell Shannon, Silas Matlock, M.B. Wilborn, E.M. Hickman, E.J. Welborn, James Cash, Tom Robertson, Aubrey Bilyeu, Albert J. Potter
World War II: Earl Wilson Helm, Oscar Johnson, John P. Simpson Jr., Hugh Earl Harper, Edmund Burr, Julian K. Stevenson and Quentin Bilyeu