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Photos by Emily Featherston.
Howard Sigmon, Navy-Korean War, third class petty officer. Veterans and widows of veterans were honored at the New Merkle Center on the eve of Veterans Day.
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Lucy Lewis (left) and Maxine Wade. Lewis was honored for being a Rosie the Riveter, and both were honored as widows of veterans.
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Charles Farrell, Army-Korean War, Corps of Engineers, was involved in rebuilding the country.
The New Merkle Senior Center in Cahaba Heights may be closed on Veterans Day itself, but that didn’t stop the community from celebrating the day and honoring those who have served in the U.S. Armed Services.
On Nov. 10, seniors and community members gathered at the center to recognize those who have fought in wars ranging from World War II to the recent war on terror in the Middle East.
Veterans and widows of veterans were presented with certificates in honor of their service and given a ceremonial American flag pin to commemorate the occasion.
Brian Davis, the director of the Public Works Department for Vestavia Hills, was the master of ceremonies.
Davis is a veteran himself, a sergeant, having served in the Army from 1992 to 2004 and doing a tour in Bagram, Afghanistan.
The second annual Veterans Day event was sponsored by Affinity Hospice, and provided the seniors with lunch and a time of fellowship.
In 2015, nine veterans and six widows were recognized. This year, six members of the New Merkle Center were recognized, along with seven guest veterans from the community and seven widows of veterans.
Lucy Lewis, 91, who lives in Liberty Park, was one of those widows, but was also recognized for being a member of the Rosie the Riveter war effort, and is still a proud “Rosie” today.
Lewis said when her husband was off at war, she worked for three years making parachutes at a warehouse that used to stand where the University of Alabama Birmingham is today.
She said the women she knew worked hard, and that she thinks the war wouldn’t have been won without them.
“As I remember, nobody complained,” she said. “They just worked.”
Lewis said she thinks veterans should receive not only more recognition and thanks, but also support and help from the communities they fought to preserve.
Affinity chief clinical officer David Rogers, who presented the veterans with their certificates and pins and is a veteran of the Marine Corps, agreed.
“This is one of the things in our country that we don’t do nearly often enough,” Rogers said. “They deserve a lot more recognition than they actually get.”
Rogers said he hopes that younger people will start to realize the importance of honoring veterans before it is too late, as most veterans of WWII have passed away.
“Every day should be Veterans Day,” he said.
Manager of the new Merkle Center Melanie Perry said she wanted to express her gratitude to Affinity and the city of Vestavia Hills for making the event possible.
After losing two WWII veterans in the last year, Perry said she thinks it is extremely important to have events honoring them, and wants to continue to have them at the center in the future.
“We want to continue to honor those who have paved the road to freedom for us,” she said.
Davis said he was honored to have been asked to act as the master of ceremonies for the event, and though he said it is difficult for him to put into words, he thinks it is a special thing for veterans to know that their service and sacrifice has paid off.
