A grateful community loves to tell the stories of its military veterans
In 2007-2008, when The Newnan Times-Herald published its series on Coweta’s Greatest Generation, we wrote weekly profile stories on abut 125 veterans who lived in Coweta and had served in World War II. Each one of the stories was compelling reading about how our men and women — our neighbors — served their country and helped protect our freedom more than 65 years ago.We turned those 125 stories into a popular hardback book called “Coweta’s Greatest Generation,” which is still available today for $42.95. It’s on sale at The Newnan Times-Herald office at 16 Jefferson St. in downtown Newnan.
Our point today is not just to plug our book, but it is to point out that we live in a community that is eager to salute its veterans and tell their stories. We are so thankful that our community goes out of the way to honor and recognize veterans.
Earlier this month the community spotlighted veterans of the post Vietnam War period in the Muster III celebration at the Coweta County Fairgrounds. A year ago, Muster II provided a long overdue celebration of the many Vietnam veterans in our community.
In addition, we have programs on Memorial Day and Veterans Day in the Veterans Plaza, a monument to our servicemen in the city park at Jackson Street and Temple Avenue in downtown Newnan.
The next program there will be the Newnan American Legion Post 57’s Veterans Day ceremony at 11 a.m. on Nov. 12. Part of this program is a recognition of a Veteran of the Year. The post is now accepting nominations from the community for the Veteran of the Year honor.
Individuals or groups may make nominations. The nomination can be in the form of a letter and can include photos or other documentation. Nominations can be mailed to American Legion Post 57, attention VOY, P.O. Box 544, Newnan, Ga., 30264.
We encourage the public to make nominations. We strongly believe it’s important to tell the stories of our veterans who have served their country. This Veterans Day program is just one of the ways we can say thanks to our brave servicemen and women of today and years past.
