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Ribbon cutting ceremony held May 29

The Coffee County Administration building welcomed a full house of veterans and community members to the official ribbon cutting ceremony of its new Coffee County Hall of Veterans Wednesday, May 29.

Interim County Mayor Dennis Hunt welcomed those assembled and said it is important to remember who the wall is all about and its purpose.

“This wall that we are opening today, the focus should be on the individuals on this wall, not any county government individual,” he said.

Headed up by Stephen Sember and V.F.W. Post 10904 Commander Kim King, the project welcomes anyone to submit a photo of a veteran with ties to Coffee County to be framed and displayed as part of the Coffee County Hall of Veterans at the County Administration building, 1329 McArthur St., Manchester.

King said during the ceremony that the project originated several months ago, and there were currently 158 photographs on the wall, including a special portion dedicated to those that made the ultimate sacrifice in service to their country.

“Mayor Matheny had come to us and wanted to do a veterans photo project,” King said.

“I won’t kid you, it took us a while to figure out the size of the picture, how we were going to do it, the farming and that.”

When it came to the actual framing and hanging the photos, that job went to Stephen Sember, who also refinished each frame.

King said some photos that were submitted were badly damaged and were able to be restored and colorized so all the photographs will have a uniform appearance.

“I get the pictures, fix them, print them out, give them to Steve and probably in a day they are up, it is that fast,” she said.

Sember said he sees the Coffee County Veterans Wall as an ongoing project that will continue to grow as more photos are added.

“We would love to see as many veterans be honored here as we can get,” he said.

To submit a veteran photo to be included in the project, email the following to Kim King at flygal46@yahoo.com.

– Photo of veteran in uniform

– Veteran’s full name

– Dates served

– Highest rank while in service

– Period served

– Military branch