KILGOROUND
MITCH LUCAS
THANK YOU TO all veterans reading this for the service and commitment you contributed to this country, a belated happy Memorial Day from me. Your contributions are not lost on us - we do appreciate you and the sacrifices you made (many of them the ultimate sacrifice) so that the United States can be the best country in the world. A little history... • Memorial Day was once known as Decoration Day. • It was first observed after the Civil War to honor Union soldiers lost in the conflict, then after World War I, it was used to pay tribute to American servicemen and women, as we know it today. • Historians believe the first Memorial Day was celebrated on May 5, 1866 in Boalsburg, Pa. Many in the South initially refused to celebrate Decoration Day due to obvious lingering bad feelings over the Civil War. An exception was in Columbus, Mississippi (the place of my first real job in the newspaper business, believe it or not), where both Confederate and Union soldiers were buried in the same cemetery, and remembered. • The holiday remained Decoration Day until it was officially changed to Memorial Day in 1967, although many had begun referring to it as Memorial Day following World War II. In 1971, it was decided among federal leaders to make Memorial Day not necessarily May 30, but the last Monday in May. Thanks, by the way, to the members of the Rotary Club who make the city look very good and patriotic on holidays like Memorial Day and the Fourth of July by placing the flags up and down the sidewalks. +++ CONGRATULATIONS to former Kilgore High School athletes Pat McCrory and Casey Whitmer, a part of the Big 12 Conference baseball champion University of Texas Longhorns (read more in sports today). The Longhorns beat Kansas State in the Big 12 title game. McCrory is a 2005 KHS graduate, Whitmer the following year. Good job, guys. +++ SPEAKING OF GRADUATION, Kilgore High School will hold its graduation ceremonies at R.E. St. John Memorial Stadium on Thursday night at 8 p.m. +++ HAPPY BIRTHDAY TODAY to Jean Avery, Mrs. E.J. Danahy, Heather Williams, Amanda Burton, Landers Sheppard, Jackie Ford, Rebekah L. (Mills) Tingle Some of those celebrating this same birthday with you include actor Christopher Lee (who was Dracula about 30 times in cinema, it seems - he's 86), actor Louis Gossett Jr. (72), actress Lee Meriwether (once Catwoman on "Batman;" she's 73), country singer Don Williams (69), actress Peri Gilpin (Roz on "Frasier;" she's 47), and singer Cilla Black (65). +++ HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TODAY to Guy and Carol Hargrave, Augusta and Pauline Morgan.