Carl J Williams

From the WCYB Corner

Originally uploaded by Carl J.

I remembered an article in the Bristol Herald Courier that said on May 29th at 11:00am we’d have a wreath-laying ceremony at our War Memorial here in Bristol.
Sarah and I walked downtown for the event and arrived about thirty minutes early. I didn’t check the weather report, but my guess is “warm and sunny, high temperature – mid to upper eighties.”
Imagine our surprise! No one was selling hot dogs, balloons, flags, soft drinks or ice cream!
The mood was quiet as we stood in the shade and chatted. WJHL-TV had a camera and crew to cover the event. We didn’t notice WCYB-TV – maybe they covered it from across the street, from the roof of their building.
As 11:00 neared, we looked for the mayor, vice-mayor, the VFW honor guard, or just anyone who looked like they were part of the memorial service. The WJHL guy with the microphone was suddenly on his cell phone, someone said “Call the mayor!” “The Mayor’s in Italy, he won’t be here!” “Who’s in charge of the city?” “It’s Memorial Day! Everything’s closed.”
So, I took three photos. We chatted with a few people. I called Glen, who was doing his laundry to go back to Johnson City and asked him to drop off a couple of cold Diet Cokes on his way out of town. I’m really glad he did. We had something cold to drink as we walked home.
It seems that the event is scheduled for Tuesday at noon! Sorry, Veterans. My wife and I have to work during the day and can’t make it. Noon keeps the event small and intimate – just right for the city leaders to have their photos taken without a lot of folks standing around taking up valuable megapixels of that new digital-film stuff.
I came home and started checked the web for the announcement. Did I get the date wrong? Did I have it right, but missed the change?
WCYB-TV has nothing on their website about the event at all. The city has plenty of info about selling building lots at the golf course, but nothing in the calender of events about the Memorial Day ceremony. What about the Bristol Herald Courier site, where I remembered seeing the date as May 27th? I did a quick search of the site and found the announcement.
http://www.tricities.com/tristate/tri/news.apx.-content-articles-TRI-2006-05-29-0015.html
The Herald Courier did announce the May 27th date, but I didn’t find a correction or change in my search. Sigh…
Well my brother and sister Veterans! We tried. Veterans were there. Friends and family were there, but the event wasn’t. The sun was shining. The air was warm. The fountain sprayed into the air, and the flag was at half-mast. We remembered and we cared. Thank you all for your dedication and service!