More than 250 people attended the Memorial Day Ceremony at Town Hall in brilliant sunshine and heat. The home-town observation was held adjacent to the Veterans Monument at Rotary Plaza where thousands of Cornelius soldiers’ names are etched in granite.
Mayor Woody Washam reminded everyone that there will be a one-minute National Moment of Remembrance at 3 p.m. today to pause in an act of national unity.
Memorial Day honors those who died in service to the United States. Keynote speaker Susan McClamrock knows all too well. She lost her son PFC James Fleet McClamrock in Iraq.
JAMES MCLAMROCK
An inspiration to the soldier’s around him to this day, young James asked medics to care for those less grievously injured. He died of his wounds at age 22 on Sept., 7, 2010.
The “Hometown Hero” at the event was Dr. Claude McConnell. He survived the shooting down of a B-24 Liberator. It lost three engines and sustained a gash in its fuselage from a propeller before running out of fuel and crash landing.
There was a line to shake his hand when the ceremony, hosted by American Legion Post 86, was over. McConnell, a retired optometrist, is the father of Hardy McConnell, who is a member of the Cornelius Planning Board.
