‘They answered their nation’s call’: Event honors those who ‘paid the ultimate price’

“Memorial Day is a day of remembrance for the men and women who’ve died while serving our country in our Armed Forces,” retired U.S. Air Force Col. Reedy Hopkins of Neeses said Sunday.

Hopkins, who served two consecutive combat tours during Operation Iraqi Freedom, was the keynote speaker at the Memorial Day program hosted by the Orangeburg County Veterans Council at Orangeburg’s Veterans Memorial Park.

Memorial Day “is also a day to reflect on the cost of freedom and it’s a day of remembrance and it’s an integral part of our national holiday,” he said.

“What is it that binds these veterans who have gone before us?” Hopkins asked.

“They answered their nation’s call. They always placed the mission first,” he said.

“They also never left their crew behind and paid the ultimate price with their lives,” Hopkins said.

During the program, Kenisha Grimes, on behalf of Vets Helping Vets and the Orangeburg County Veterans Affairs Office, presented special guest Lula Mae Glover with a U.S. flag.

Her son, Trevis Arnell Glover, was only 22 when he and three crew members in a U.S. Navy SH-2 Sea Sprite helicopter crashed in the Atlantic Ocean off of Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida on May 14, 1990.

Lula Mae Glover remembered when Naval officers came to her home to tell her that her son died in the crash.

“At one time I was ready to give up, but I realized I had two other children to think of,” she said.

Veterans of Foreign Wars & Auxiliary Post 8166 Commander John Hammonds presented the folded and framed flag to Glover as Grimes said it was offered, “in remembrance of your son, Trevis, who gave the ultimate sacrifice.”

Glover said, “Trevis was born four days after my birthday. I considered him to be my belated birthday present. He was a quiet, very humble child. Loved his sister and brother to death.”

“He decided to join the service and he completed the first tour,” she added.

“My mother always told me, ‘When a mother loses a child, that’s a string that’s broken from the heart and it can never be repaired, never be replaced.’ I understand that now that that string is broken, but the love is still there,” she said.

Glover said she’s experienced the storms of life and she knows how to manage them.

“You’ve got to keep Christ in the midst. Keep praying, keep pushing forward and he’ll make a way for you,” she said.

Also during the program, Hammonds set a black seat cover on an empty chair to recognize the nation’s Prisoners of War and those service members who went missing in action.

The Ladies Auxiliaries of VFW Posts 2779 and 8166 laid a wreath to honor those who died while serving in the U.S. Armed Forces.

Orangeburg City Councilperson Liz Zimmerman Keitt welcomed the public and other guests to the event.

Steve Jarvis concluded the program by playing “Taps” on the trumpet.