By Bill Dudley
The following column is from “The Patriot Reader,” the newsletter of the Veterans Council of St. Johns County.
Around our county, there have been several civic and veterans organizations that have honored and remembered our veterans in some special way. The most prominent way has been the laying of bricks in memorial gardens or Walls of Remembrance.
On Thursday, Sept. 18, Pedro Menendez High School performed such a dedication before their varsity football game that evening. The ceremony was conducted around the American flagpole at the entrance to the football field. This area contains many bricks honoring our local veterans from St. Johns County. The dedication service was attended by Joseph McDermott, director of the Veterans Service Office, and myself as guests of the school, and we participated in the dedication service. The Veterans Council purchased five bricks in honor of all former chairmen of the Veterans Council.
The Veterans Council of St. Johns County made a commitment years ago that no veteran from our county will ever be buried without a family member present. On numerous occasions, the Veterans Council has had to be that family member. This was the situation last Wednesday when Joseph McDermott, director of the Veterans Service Office, and I transported the cremains of an indigent veteran to Jacksonville National Cemetery for burial. Navy veteran Jacquis Hehelijah Rossiter had no known family that could be located. Director McDermott and I, along with a member of the Jacksonville Ladies, a volunteer group that ensures no veteran is buried alone at Jacksonville National Cemetery, performed the services for veteran shipmate Rossiter.
Thank you for your service.
Bill Dudley is chairman of the Veterans Council of St. Johns County. He served 10 years of active duty in the U.S. Air Force, deploying during the Berlin Crisis and Cuban Missile Crisis, before transferring to the USAF Reserves and retiring at the rank of lieutenant colonel. Since 2005, he has served the veteran community as National Director of the U.S. Navy League and in leadership roles with the National Cemetery, Veterans Treatment Court Advisory Board and other local veterans organizations.
