On Tuesday, May 28, Dr. Bill Gaddis led a program on Memorial Day with the Kiwanis Club of Winnfield.

He invited guests Charlie Bice and Tommy Harrel to join the club and also included member Dr. Jerry Williams in the program.  Tommy was in the U.S. Marine Corps and served in Vietnam beginning in December 1968.  He was recruited in college.

Charlie also served in the United States Marine Crops and was recruited when a junior at Northwestern.  In 1959, he went to flight school at Quantico.  After being sent to the West Coast, he learned how to fly helicopters.  He was actually in the Marines for 20 years.

Dr. Jerry Williams was in ROTC and the National Guard and served at Walter Reed Hospital.  Dr. Gaddis was in ROTC and served in the Army.  For a period of time, he was answering congressional complaints about the military and then served as MOS officer in Vietnam.

The highest number of deaths in a war occurred in the Civil War (620,000+).  World War I saw 116,000+ deaths, World War II saw 405,000+ deaths, and Vietnam saw 58,000+ deaths.  

The original name of Memorial Day was Decoration Day which began with the Confederate States and the Civil War.  It was a day that people decorated the graves of those who died serving our country.  Memorial Day became a federal holiday in 1971.  Memorial Day is about men and women who have given their lives in service to our country.  

Dr. Gaddis closed the program by reading the poem, “In Flanders Field.”