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CYRUS REPORTS: Armistice Day, 1930: In Remembrance of Heroes Many events are marking the week leading up to Veterans Day, Friday, November 11, 2005. It's a national holiday, and many will use it to 'ponte' or bridge, the extra day into a frivolous 3-day weekend. But a large number of Adair Countians will reverently, and properly, observe the special day. It used to be called "Armistice Day," or, in this area, "Ar-MISS-TISS" day. Cyrus says it properly still is Ar-MISS-TISS day. He's dug us the history of one of the biggest events ever in Columbia, Armistice Day, 1930, when the Bank of Columbia got its "handsome bronze plaque." It's a wonderful research, rife with names of people you know, or have heard wonderful stories about. Photo of the Handsome Bronze Plaque with this article In Remembrance of Heroes May God bless our veterans, and may we never forget them and the sacrifices they made for us. On a cold November Tuesday in 1930, several hundred Adair Countians assembled on the Public Square of Columbia to pay homage to their own--the twenty-three Adair County soldiers who had fallen during the Great War, now called World War One. That war ended eighty-seven years ago, on November 11, 1918. Shortly thereafter, a movement began to raise a memorial to the soldiers from Adair County who had given their lives during the conflict. However, it would be a dozen years before a "handsome bronze tablet" memorializing those brave young men was erected by the Bank of Columbia and unveiled on Armistice Day 1930, exactly seventy-five years ago. An article in the November 4, 1930 edition of the Adair County News encouraged that "Every citizen in the county should be present at this ceremony in respect to the memory of the fearless youths who so bravely gave their lives for a noble cause." The November 18th issue gave a full description of the program, which was "under the auspices of Adair Post No. 99 of the American Legion with Mr. Rollin Cundiff as master of ceremonies." Just prior to the beginning of the planned events of the day, " . . . members of the 123rd Cavalry, Kentucky National Guard, under the command of Captain A.E. Ely, of Glasgow. . . .drilled on the square before leaving for home. They were a snappy looking outfit and the crowd enjoyed seeing them on parade." (The reason for the National Guard unit being in Columbia is a story unto itself.) The scheduled program, as outlined in the Nov. 18th issue of the News, then got under way. (Information in parentheses comes from other sources.)
(The last paragraph of President Woodrow Wilson's 1919 Armistice Day proclamation: "To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in the country's service and with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nation.") The words to The Vacant Chair were penned by Henry S. Washburn in November, 1861 in tribute to a fallen soldier; music by George F. Root. The first verse: We shall meet but we shall miss him, There will be one vacant chair; We shall linger to caress him While we breathe our evening prayer. When one year ago we gathered, Joy was in his mild blue eye, Now the golden cord is severed, And our hopes in ruin lie.) ("My Dream of the Big Parade" was written by Al Dubin a few years after World War One and set to music Jimmy McHugh. It was recorded by Al Jolson in 1926. The first verse: Last night I was dreaming of days that are gone, Of days that you might recall, And just like a photoplay upon my wall, Once more I saw it all; It was just a dream you see, But how real it seemed to be.) (In December 1971, Nancy M. Berley wrote in The Green River Sprite that both Ralph Hurt and his father, Judge Rollin T. Hurt, were "students of Adair County history, entertaining speakers and great story tellers.") This story was posted on 2005-11-09 17:49:36
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