The crowd on Monday filled the rows of seats on the Oconee Veterans Park gymnasium floor and the bleachers on the side as, for the second year in a row, the Memorial Day Program was moved indoors because of rain.
Guest speaker Dr. Henry Heard, a retired United States Air Force Colonel, focused on memory in his presentation, telling the audience that “if you don’t remember something, it’s as if it never happened.”
The purpose of the annual program organized by the Oconee Veterans Memorial Foundation is to make sure people remember the sacrifice of those who gave their lives in foreign wars and the sacrifice of their families.
Prior to Dr. Heard’s comments, members of Gold Star families were asked to stand and be recognized.
The program ended with retired U.S. Army Sergeant Major Mark Saxon performing the roll call of the 39 from Oconee County killed in action in World War I (9), World War II (22), the Korean War (2), the Vietnam War (3), the War in Afghanistan (1), and the War in Iraq (2).
Saxon, an Oconee County Commissioner, ended the roll call with two words: “Honor, Remember.”
Program
The plan had been to hold the event at the Veteran’s Memorial at the front of Veterans Park, 3500 Hog Mountain Road. Those 39 names are listed on three plagues at the entrance to the Memorial.
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| Heard 5/26/2025 |
Heavy rain before the event led organizers to relocate the program to the Community Center.
Jim Alexander, Chair of the Oconee Veterans Memorial Foundation, noted the presence of 10th District Congressman Mike Collins as he began the program.
Collins did not speak but sat in the bleachers throughout the hour-long program and stayed afterwards to talk with those who attended.
The program included singing of the Star Spangled Banner by Cubby Rupert, a Musket Salute by the Georgia Society and Athens Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution, and presentations of wreaths.
Speaker Dr. Heard has more than 40 years of experience as a physician assistant in multiple specialties, including emergency medicine, neurosurgery, and orthopedics.
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| Saxon 5/26/2025 |
He has been honored with the Legion of Merit and was the first physician assistant to command an Air Force hospital in Iraq.
“What we are here today about is remembrance of Memorial Day," Dr. Heard said.
Memorial Day started after the Civil War, he said.
“Everybody that died was an American,” he said. “By about 1868, it became a formal situation to have a day of memory for those people who served.”
The holiday has changed over time, he said, and after 9/11 it includes recognition of the first responders as well as military veterans.
“So today is a day of remembrance,” he said. “It's a day of history. And it's a day that is precious to us.
Video
The video below includes the entire Honor Our Patriots program at Oconee Veterans Park on May 26. I added short clips of the Oconee Veterans Memorial at the front and rear of the video of the program inside the Community Center to show where the 39 names are listed.
Heard began his presentation at 15:03 in the video.
Saxon began the roll call at 51:24 in the video.
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