Elementary school kids pay tribute to Warren County’s war dead at pre-Memorial Day ceremony

Flag-waving third to fifth-grade students of E. Wilson Morrison elementary school in downtown Front Royal on Thursday (May 18) paid an early Memorial Day weekend tribute to the fallen soldiers from World War II and the subsequent wars involving Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

Led by teacher Michael Williams, the youngsters heard a message from wheel-chair bound Army Sgt. Bunky Woods, injured in the Iraq war some 15 years ago, urged the kids to “love your country” and remember the men and women who gave their lives fighting for it.

Williams gave a shout-out to the Humane Society of Warren County (HSWC), which on May 27 (noon) hosts a ceremony honoring “the dogs of war” and their handlers at a memorial garden recently established on the grounds of the Julia Wagner Animal Shelter, 1245 Progress Avenue. This Memorial Day weekend event features an out-of-town speaker from Voice of America (VOA) and the Virginia Chorale. That gathering will specifically honor the service of the war dogs and those K-9s serving local police departments and sheriff’s offices throughout the county and the country.

Following the brief ceremony outside the front doors of the school, the children and a group of onlookers each planted flags on the outside lawn to remain there as a reminder of the upcoming holiday weekend and the accompanying ceremonials at the animal shelter and the county courthouse grounds on Main Street (May 29).

“The flags will stay in the ground until after the holiday,” Williams said.

(Editor’s note: The writer, a 90-year-old Royal Air Force (UK) veteran post World War II, established the memorial garden at the animal shelter just two years ago to give due credit to the dogs of war that saved many soldiers’ lives in the various conflicts while in many cases giving up their own. Barr was a military writer in the Pacific during the Vietnam conflict).

Watch the ceremony in this exclusive Royal Examiner video.