The Veterans at the Library held their weekly meeting, Monday morning at 9:15 a.m. With Chair John Tapley presiding, there were 42 in attendance including newest (102) veteran, Kimberly Ann Waters. Veteran Waters served in the U. S. Air Force from 1985 to 1990. She served at Davis Monthan AFB as part of the 41st ECS and many other places around the world. Her highest rank was E-3. Waters and her husband Tony are members of the First Methodist Church in Swainsboro, and both sing in the Chancel Choir and Kim is a soprano soloist. Chair Tapley discussed the clean-ups of the Veterans and First Responders Memorial Park that have occurred the last few Saturdays and what a major difference it has made. They currently only have to clean the Southeast side of the park and place mulch on that side of the trails. Be sure and drive through the park to see the difference. Veteran Julian Sconyers said that he would check on the aluminum bleachers that should have been left on sight so that school classes would have a place for their field trips to the park. Chair Tapley then asked Veteran Dess Smith III to provide veterans with some history of our local Army National Guard Combat Engineer Unit from its organized date of 1946 to present date, including its deployments during the Korean War, Island of Grenada, Panama Canal, Somalia, Egypt (twice), Jordan, Oman, Tropical Storm Alberto in West Georgia in July 1994, Iraq(twice) and Afghanistan. If you are a veteran, the Veterans at the Library would love for you to attend their weekly meetings at the library that are held every Monday morning at 9:15 a.m. for a free breakfast. Just show up to the George L Smith II room.
