Judge Boyd Patterson
The public is invited to join the Chattanooga Area Veterans Council as Chattanooga and Hamilton County commemorate Veterans Day at 11 a.m. on Friday, at the Tennessee National Guard Armory on South Holtzclaw Avenue. Parking is available at the Armory and there is no charge.
LTC Bill Brooks, USA [Ret], Chairman of the CAVC, will preside at the event, working in conjunction with the CAVC host organization, American Legion Post # 95, David Sherrill, Commander. All veterans will be recognized and a special tribute will be paid to Gold Star Mothers and Gold Star Spouses. The Chattanooga Choo-Choo Chorus will provide stirring patriotic music, designed to remind attendees of the region’s proud history of military service.
Judge Boyd Patterson, Hamilton County Criminal Court, Division III and a proponent of a special Veterans Court, will be the featured speaker. Hamilton County Mayor Weston Wamp and U. S. Congressman Chuck Fleischmann will also speak while the City of Chattanooga will unveil a new program related to the posting of the U. S. flags on Veterans Bridge. American LegionPost # 95 and Chattanooga Chapter # 203, Vietnam Veterans of America will serve as honor guards and will be joined by member organizations in a “Massing of the Colors”, under the direction of CAVC Board Trustee, Alan Syler, Commander, USS Carbonero Base [Submarine Veterans].
American Legion Post # 95, formed in East Ridge in 1952 with 170 members, was named to honor the late Captain William E. Blair. Captain Blair, USAF, who order his crew to safety and rode “his blazing plane to its death and his own over Chattanooga on September 30, 1949. By steering the craft to an isolated area, he sparred a residential area near Missionary Ridge from certain disaster.” [Chattanooga Times, 12 Jan 1952] Captain Blair’s portrait, commissioned by the post in 1952 and completed by Rome Benedict, hangs in the Post # 95’s meeting hall.
For more information regarding the Veterans Day event, visit www.chattareaveterans.com or email Linda Moss Mines, CAVC Secretary at localhistorycounts@gmail.com.