Fallen troops remembered in Flowery Branch

FLOWERY BRANCH - Memorial Day weekend brought relatives and friends of fallen armed forces members to a service in Flowery Branch Sunday at Memorial Park South on Atlanta Highway.

American Legion Post 127 from Buford hosted the event.

Featured speaker, retired U.S. Navy chaplain Capt. Mike Freeman, called for a show of hands from everyone who had lost a loved one or friend in America's wars.

Most of the people in the audience held their hands up.

"I know we're a select crowd," Freeman said. "We are here because we have been closely touched by that. I would hope that every American both today and tomorrow will take some time and stop and recall what happened to each of these individuals as they gave their lives."

At the service Vietnam Veterans Chapter 772 announced their participation in a program to support service people overseas called "Operation Bandana."

"We're in the process of trying to raise funds for the inspirational bandanas to each and every service person world wide," Chapter member Don Landrum said. "We're passing these bandanas out and shipping them to unit chaplains and commanders at their request."

Landrum said the program originated in North Carolina and is starting up in Georgia and the goal is to provide the bandanas to each service member from Georgia.

"We're shipping these, based on what the unit desires, to the unit deployed in the combat zone," Landrum said. "That way the chaplains and commanders can give them out to the troops as they go into combat as opposed to giving them out here and home and them being left at home."

http://accesswdun.com/article/2008/5/210283