Monticello Live

Click here for more information.

Monticello firefighters were paged out Memorial Day afternoon to Florence Road, where a mobile home was engulfed in flames.

Sources at the scene said no one was home at the time of the fire,  which fully engulfed the residence.

Memorial Day is next Monday, May 26, 2014, and I want to thank each of the veteran servicemen, past and present, for your service to our great nation.  I also want to remind you of a little remembered symbol from WWI and WWII that few today likely can recall.  Yet it was a very significant and unique memento from our country’s history.

(more…)

The recent re-application for cities to espresse interest in being home to the state’s new veterans care home is receiving the full attention of Quorum Court, MEDC, City of Monticello, and many other local residents and organizations.

When consttucted, the $22 million dollar facility ex expected to provide over $3 million in yearly payroll.

The deadline is November.

The Drew County Veteran Services Office is getting new floors.

During this time, all veterans can schedule offsite appointments. Offsite appointments can be conducted in any location. Home and offsite appointments are usually reserved for homebound veterans.

Veterans can call 870 460-4748 to schedule an offsite appointment or ask a question.

(more…)

Monday night, members of our local veterans organizations met with Boy Scout Troop 67, to teach them flag etiquette for the retiring (burning) of worn US flags.  The VFW, DAV, and American Legion were represented.

The process is educational and patriotic.

The students at Discovery Children’s Center enjoyed lunch with the American Legion and VFW, Friday

After lunch the children presented the American Legion and VFW with flags that they made.

(more…)

The Little Rock Vet Center is pleased to announce that Vet Center services will be brought delivered to Monticello and the surrounding area  to Veterans and their families and others eligible for services, and family survivors of Service members killed in action.

(more…)

A Flag Retirement Ceremony was recently hosted by Veterans of Foreign Wars, American Legion, Disabled American Veterans and Woodmen of the World will be held at the Drew County Courthouse.

The public was invited to see the proper way to retire an American Flag that is worn and tattered.

Photos courtesy of a MLive reader.

The local veteran’s organizations, as part of their annual Memorial Day program, recognized 4 local first responders for the service to Monticello and Drew County.

Officer of the Year awards were presented to Billy Barnett of the Monticello Fire Dept.,  Matt Outlaw of the Arkansas State Police, and Danny Chisom of the Monticello Police Dept.  Ben Michel of the Drew County Sheriff’s office was also honored, Ben’s plaque was accepted by Chief Deputy Robin Hood.

Drew County has recently lost two more of its members from that generation of soldiers known as the “greatest generation”, because of their sacrifice during the WWII years.

Since today is Memorial Day, we will show respect and pay tribute to five great Americans and Monticellonians, as we reflect on my interviews with them for the Veterans Oral History Project when I asked them to share with me memories of their WWII service.

It takes many support people to operate an Army – or a Navy. This story tells about one man who filled a special need in the service of his country while readying the seamen to fulfill their duties.

David Olen Cockrell was drafted and entered the US Navy on June 3, 1943. He recalled that he may have decided to enter the Navy because he had had a favored cousin, Oscar Miles, who had died on the USS Arizona when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

(more…)

This information was shared during interviews as part of the Veterans’ Oral History Project through the Library of Congress. 

Charles Jackson’s military service began when he graduated from Henderson State Teachers College in 1942 and was invited by a group of naval officials visiting the graduates to enlist in a naval officer’s training program. He began this program in the fall at Northwestern University in Chicago and received his commission as a lieutenant in the spring of 1943.

(more…)

Let’s remember the very secret WWII mission of the late Dr. Roy Grizzell.

Dr. Roy Grizzell had a long and varied career in the military that began before WWII started. In the winter of 1940 he was sent to Fort Bragg, N.C. as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Infantry. He was assigned as Range Officer and Supply Officer on the post, thus beginning his career with the Military Police.

(more…)

I couldn’t possibly have a Memorial Day tribute without mentioning my dear friend, T. Robie Scott. I didn’t have the pleasure of his personal acquaintance for long, but I consider our friendship a highlight and miss his counsel and support. He was an intensely strong-willed patriot, a devoted family man and a fervent supporter of our country. Robie Scott was one of a kind – the kind America needs more of today.

(more…)

A military color guard paid tribute to a fallen soldier, Friday morning, at the Monticello airport.

(more…)

?

43 Veterans Attending Memorial Service

MonticelloLive on Vimeo.

(more…)