Bradley County will mark the 77th anniversary of the Dec. 7, 1941 attack on the American military base in Hawaii with its annual ceremony at the Cleveland Elks Lodge, 235 2nd St. NE.
Like the past two years, the ceremony will begin at 10 a.m. and last about one hour.
The featured speaker this year will be Margot Still, manager of the Cleveland/Bradley Public Library’s History Branch, recently renamed the Johnston-Tucker Center.
Ms. Still has always called Cleveland home, even though she might have lived someplace else.
She graduated from the University of Tennessee with a degree in history. As an undergraduate, she worked under Dr. Charles Johnson in the establishment of the Center for the Study Of War and Society. After graduation, Ms. Still worked in medical administration in Memphis. She returned to East Tennessee and obtained a master’s degree from UTC.
Ms. Still taught for several years in Charleston, SC before returning to Cleveland and working at the public library.
Ms. Still is a member of First Families Of Tennessee and has completed the Master Local Historians Program. She is a member of the East Tennessee Historical Society, the American Association for State and Local History, Society Of Tennessee Archivists and Tennessee Association Of Museums.
Cleveland is one of the few places in the United States outside of Honolulu with a Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day observance. The Cleveland event was begun over 14 years ago by Korean War POW Bill Norwood and a group of local veterans.
Mr. Norwood asked the Colonel Benjamin Cleveland Chapter of the Sons Of The American Revolution in 2016 to continue the observance. Mr. Norwood died earlier this year. Veterans groups and the SAR unveiled a monument in his honor at 1st Street Square.
The master of ceremonies this year will be SAR member Dr. James E. Peters, professor of biology at Cleveland State Community College.
The ceremony begins with the Bradley Central High School JROTC presenting the colors followed by prayer led by SAR chaplain Jim Kerr. The two local chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Ocoee and Chestuee chapters, and the SAR, will present memorial wreaths.
Along with local community leaders, special guests will include the community’s military veterans from World War II through the current era.
The program ends with a 21-gun salute by the Bradley County Veterans Funeral Honor Guard and taps by buglers from Cleveland High School.
A restored World War II Jeep will be on display on the Elks Lodge lawn, courtesy of Phil Newman. A contemporary newspaper exhibit will also be displayed, compliments of Hank Hayden.