City of Bamberg’s Veterans Day Program November 11, 2019 Speech by Kerry “Trent” Kinard, Bamberg County Council Chairman
I want to welcome everyone to Bamberg today. I am always pleased when this city, our County can come together in celebration and unity. Today is an excellent opportunity for uniting to celebrate our heroic Veterans—in particular, our local Veterans. Without their courageous service and dedication to defending our nation and its values, none of us would be here right now. None of us could gather in peaceful assembly to show our gratitude without the work of these brave men and women who sacrifice years of their lives away from home and loved ones to defend our rights and our freedom.
In truth, we as American citizens have no way of truly repaying our Veterans for their sacrifice or their service to us. Yes, we often say “Thank you for your service,” or “God bless you for what you do for our country,” but somehow, those words never seem enough to express the gratitude we have for these individuals. We can only offer back to them a fraction of what they have each given us all through our thanks and our tributes.
As part of Bamberg’s effort to pay tribute to our veterans, the Bamberg County Veterans Memorial Walkway has been created to physically demonstrate our gratitude. The Veterans Memorial is a passive park featuring 7 individual tributes to each of the 6 branches of our military and Carlyle Academy. These monuments have as their focal point an original brick statue created by Brad Spencer, a world renowned artist specializing in brick mediums.
Each monument feature has the departmental seal, flag and granite engraved tributes to their purpose and function within our military forces. Also, each monument unit has in its floor engraved brick pavers of supporters to the walkway project.
Additionally, the sculpture unit floor has brick pavers of each Bamberg County resident that gave his or her life in defense of this great country. The walkway has pedestrian lighting, security cameras, and each unit has inlaid lighting in its benches for evening visits, respites and peaceful contemplation of the contributions these veterans have made on our behalf. We are so proud to provide this tribute to our veterans as a space for reflection, public gratitude, and community pride.
So, today we celebrate all the brave men and women who have served in our military by offering this local landmark to them; there will be nothing else like it in the state or the entire southeast. And we also commemorate these brave soldiers with our heartfelt remembrance, gratitude, respect and honor. And though it is never enough, we say again to all veterans: Thank You!
God Bless our Veterans, and God Bless America!