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SPECIAL TO THE DAILY NEWS

Post 24 of The American Legion invites the God-fearing and faithful citizens of Washington Parish and surrounding area to join in and participate in our annual observance of Pearl Harbor Day on the morning of Friday, December 6, 2024, at 8:00 a.m. in the “old” Legion building in Lakeview. The program will be prepared and conducted by our Chaplin, the Rev. Paul Corse, a seasoned and unwavering servant of Almighty God.

Rev. Corse’s military career as an Army paymaster extended to six years duty, largely in Germany and was followed by attendance at the Bethany Bible Seminary in Dothan Alabama, where he graduated suma cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in Ministry. He has served as the pastor of the Sun Methodist Church for a total of twenty-four years.

This annual reminiscence of what President Roosevelt appropriately labeled as “a date that will live in infamy” seems especially appropriate for Washington Parish, what with our background of upholding “the votive stones” of freedom. It is little remembered that the community of Mr. Hermon produced two General Officers, Brigadier General Stanley Ott and his son who became a three-star general. The Knight family of Bogalusa gave us Brigadier General Coleman Knight who is remembered and recorded as a hero of the Battle of the Bulge during Christmas of 1944, and we were well represented in France in the “War to End All Wars” by our cavalry unit Company I and it’s wonderfully antic  characters, who at their last reunion in 1961 were reminded by Judge Jim Warren Richardson that “those who were not there can never understand what it was like, and those who were there can never forget it.”  Washington Parish has never faltered when our nation’s bugle has sounded the call to arms.

An observer may wonder why we urge parents to allow or enable their young folks to attend functions of this kind, our answer is simple. They listen attentively and courteously and seem to appreciate the fact that they are hearing the story of their freedom and how it has been preserved.

And when our days shall have known their number and the torch has been passed on, we find hope in President Lincoln’s timeless benediction:

“The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot’s grave to every living heart and hearthstone in this broad land shall yet sound the chorus of liberty.”

We urge all of you to join us in this moment of prayers, cheers, and tears.

Lest we forget….Lest we forget.

Magic City Post 24

John N. Gallaspy, spokesman