Many turned out for the Memorial Day event that was held at Plant City’s Norman McLeod American Legion Post 26, on May 30.
Retired Col. Ronald Tucker was the keynote speaker at the ceremony.
Before he took to the stage, the Plant City High School JROTC performed the posting of the colors, followed by the national anthem and the Pledge of Allegiance led by Cub Scouts Pack 5. The ceremonial representation of the POW/MIA table was also conducted.
Tucker entered the military in 1982 and attended Basic and Advanced Individual Training at Fort Benning, Georgia.
After he completed Airborne school, he was assigned to the 1st Ranger Battalion. He also served as an NCO in the 2nd Infantry Division, the 10th Mountain Division and was a Vulcan/Stinger Platoon leader. He was also an Army ranger in Operation Urgent Fury during the battle for Grenada.
He was a professor of military science at the University of Kansas and Southern Illinois University – Edwardsville and was the battalion commander for the Kansas City Recruiting Battalion.
His final active-duty assignment was as a division chief, and a part of the Combined Strategic Analysis Group and the United States Central Command.
He is currently a senior Army instructor for the Plant City High School JROTC program – a position he has held for the past six years.
“Memorial Day has great significance to our past, present, and our future,” Tucker said. “In 1968, Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act which established Memorial Day as the last Monday in May, in order to create a three-day weekend for federal employees.”
In 1971, Congress declared Memorial Day as a national holiday to be celebrated. It was initially call Decoration Day because it paid homage to Civil War soldiers by decorating their graves.
During the first Decoration Day, General James Garfield gave a speech at the Arlington National Cemetery. Approximately 5,000 participants helped to decorate the graves of more than 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers.
Tucker also took the time to speak on the soldiers who served overseas, and were able to make it back to the U.S. and join the organization that gives back to those formerly in uniform.
“The American Legion found a way back in 1919 by war-weary veterans of World War I, people that had been battling in the trenches over in France and Germany, and they came out of the war and weren’t done serving,” Tucker said. “So now they want to serve their communities back home.”
Decorated wreaths were brought to the front and displayed by the Plant City Republican Women Federated club; Norman McLeod American Legion Post 26; the Plant City Garden Club; the Plant City Elks Lodge; the Plant City Kiwanis Club; South Florida Baptist Hospital; the Plant City Black Heritage organization; the City of Plant City; the Walden Lake Community Association; the Lions Club of Plant City; the Plant City Woman’s Club; the Plant City Optimist Club; and the Plant City Arts Council.
The ritual of burning the list of names of those veterans that had passed away in the last year took place and was followed by the JROTC members firing blank shots into the air
The Simmons Career Acceleration Academy’s culinary students prepared and catered food for after the program.