Senoia residents gathered to honor their veterans Friday night as part of the monthly event, Alive After 5, sponsored by the city’s Downtown Development Authority. Banners honoring the military service of several of Senoia’s veterans have been hanging from lamp posts for the last few months. Those veterans were invited to attend a short ceremony Friday night that was organized by the DDA President, April Anderson. When asked about the popularity of this first year project Anderson responded, “The DDA phones have been ringing off the hook since the banners first went up. Next year we’ll have even more veterans participating.”
Susan Stitt, Senoia’s Memorial Day program organizer, was asked to participate in the program Friday night. She read a speech by Georgia resident and United States Army veteran, Cody Gillies. Cody served in both Afghanistan and Iraq. Susan recited several passages from a speech that Cody originally presented at the Mercer University Law School Veterans Day program in 2011. Asked to comment on the program Friday night Stitt said, “I am so grateful to have been able to honor the Senoia Veteran’s and greatly appreciate Cody Gillies giving me permission to post his speech, as I do, every Veteran’s Day. Our veterans and their families make great sacrifices on behalf of all of us and it’s our responsibility to thank them and appreciate the freedoms that their service affords us all. As Cody said in his 2011 speech, “It remains to us, as a society, as the heirs of our veteran’s legacy, to have the courage and the character to follow their lead, to do all we can to preserve America as the greatest nation on earth, and the last great hope for mankind. May God bless you all, and May God Bless America.”
Senoia veterans or their families who would like to participate in the Veteran’s banner program should keep an eye out for announcements on the DDA’s website at www.enjoysenoia.com.
