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Restrictions on public gatherings to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic caused the customary Memorial Day ceremonies to be cancelled, but Glynn T. Cahoon Post 10659 of the Veterans of Foreign Wars ensured that Tyrrell’s fallen heroes were remembered.

The American flag was lowered to half-staff, and a wreath and smaller flags were placed at the Veterans Memorial on the Courthouse lawn in Columbia May 25 in memory of Tyrrell men who paid the ultimate price to preserve freedom for their fellow Americans.

Stone tablets at the Memorial site display the names of 35 Tyrrell men who did not return from Twentieth Century wars.

In World War I, there were Clyde Bradford Armstrong, James M. Brickhouse, David H. Cohoon, Lloyd H. Dillon, Oscar Dodge, Asa Jeremiah Etheridge, Columbus S. Morris, Anderson L. Ader, and Amsey Sawyer.

In the Second World War, there were Raymond H. Wilkins (Congressional Medal of Honor), Junior V. Basnight, Ephriam C. Cooper, James D. Holloway, Thomas Lindsey Jarvis, Chester Hopkins Jr., Mary Lee Kemp, Gaither Lassiter, William Nelson McClees, James T. Machen, Clarence Rayfield Owens, Norman E. Smith, Charlie W. Sykes, Milton “Pete” Taylor, Huron R. Voliva, Calvin Doss Weatherly, and Richard Wynn.

In Korea it was Warren Davenport, Jr.

And in Vietnam there were Glynn Thomas Cahoon, Morgan Lane Cahoon, Edwin Earl Hoffman (aka Edwin Earl Lassiter), Devoya M. King, Raymond Christopher Meekins, James Terry Payne, Harmon Thurston Respass, and Serge Walter Spotanski.

The First World War ended with an armistice agreement that went into effect at 11 a.m., Nov. 11, 1918.

Many older Tyrrell residents are remembering what they were doing when they heard that the war in Europe had ended May 8, and Japan had surrendered Sept. 2, 1945, ending the Second World War 75 years ago.

The fighting in Korea stopped when an armistice agreement was signed on July 27, 1953.

And on April 30, 1975, the last few Americans still in South Vietnam were airlifted out of the country as Saigon fell to communist forces 45 years ago.