Jones County’s ninth annual Veterans Appreciation Day was held last weekend and the numbers attending the program continue to grow.

The weather for the Nov. 7 event was as accommodating as all the volunteers working to make Jones County veterans feel like the heroes they are. Veterans started registering inside the W.E. Knox Center before the event officially started at 11 a.m.

The theme of this year’s event was ‘Celebrating our Men and Women Veterans’.

Each veteran received a gift for attending from the Jones County Veterans Committee and the Gray Garden Club pinned poppies on their lapels.

The veterans committee has been meeting since the first of the year to make the day an event to remember for everyone attending. This year the committee decided to forego an outside speaker and instead focused on interviews by Jones County veterans for the cornerstone of the program. The interviews with Jones County veterans began with last year’s program, and their popularity affirmed the committee’s feelings that they need to be continued.

Veterans committee member Dr. Bob Cramer interviewed five World War II veterans this summer, and those interviews, and one that was not shown last year due to technical problems, took the place of a keynote speaker. Veterans interviewed were Paul and Marguerite Simpson, Calvin McDaniel, J.D. Garrett, Claude Comer, and Grady Tyler.

The interviews were recorded at First Baptist Church with the help of Bobby Bentley and Barry Collins and were edited by Brent Chaney of Real Life Church.

The Simpsons were the first married couple to be interviewed for the program. Tyler was actually interviewed last year, but an equipment problem caused his interview to be left out, and it was added to this year’s video.

The Oliver Morton Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Jones County History and Heritage, Keep Jones Beautiful, the Pilot Club of Jones County, Tommy Hinson with his display of military memorabilia, the Scouting Committee, the Marine Corps League, and the Veterans Memorial Committee had booths at the event. American Legion Post 142 sold barbecue plates.

The Jones County High School Chorus, under the direction of Debbie Coleman, and the Jones County High School Band, under the direction of Eldon Lundin, provided a rendition of patriotic music outside before the program inside the auditorium began. Lundin also played Taps at the conclusion of the program.

One of the highlights of the day is always the veterans walk, which begins under a huge American flag near the rear courthouse parking lot and continues inside the W.E. Knox Center as a precursor to the program. The veterans walk behind banners of the years during which they served.

The program started with a tribute to each branch of the armed forces and was called to order with the presentation of the colors. This year the Jones County Sheriff’s Department honor guard carried the flags.

Veterans’ committee chairman Richard Combs led the Pledge of Allegiance and the national anthem was sung by Brooklin Fowler.

A unique part of this year’s program was a tribute to Jim Moughon by the Oliver Morton Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution on behalf of the National DAR. Moughon was posthumously awarded the organization’s highest award, the National Medal of Honor.

Moughon’s daughter, Jean Bloodworth, accepted the award and said the family had the choice of receiving the award at a ceremony in Atlanta or at the Veterans Appreciation Day in Gray.

Bloodworth said it was an easy decision.

The event, however, was not without its challenges. Those in charge of the program were not sure until moments before the interviews were shown that the audience would get to see them. For some unknown reason, the disc containing the interviews would not play on the laptop set up for that purpose, and a second laptop located at the last minute and plugged into the projector would play the audio but not the video.

Bentley saved the day with a DVD player he was using to show pictures of previous veterans appreciation days. Glenn Harrell was able to hook up the DVD player just in time for the interviews to play.

At the end of his interview, Tyler summed up the feelings of most of the members of the ‘Greatest Generation’, stating that the true heroes were the men and women who gave their lives during the war. He said if he had the chance, he would do it all again.

“I don’t feel like the United States owes me anything. They paid me while I was there, and I got back in one piece,” he added.