About 75 Tyrrell residents attended the annual Veterans Day ceremonies in Madge L. VanHorne Auditorium in Columbia at 8 a.m. on Nov. 11.

Highlight of the event, sponsored by American Legion Post 182, was four students in Columbia Middle/High School reading their winning essays on the American flag and the First World War, which ended 100 years ago on Nov. 11, 1918.

The winning entrants were Brody Fleming, sixth grade; Mai Martiniz-Garcia, eighth grade; Jeslyn Vo, ninth grade; and Heavenly Daniels, tenth grade.

Walter Davenport, Army veteran and Post 182 chaplain, prayed after reading the names of veterans who died during the past year: Herbert Brickhouse, Roy W. Brickhouse, Dallas Douglas Davis, Elbert Gibbs Jr., Glenn P. Hayes, George Samuel Johnson, James Boyd Liverman, William E. Richardson Sr., Floyd Rhodes, Robert Rose and James L. Selby.

The Washington County High School Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps laid a wreath of remembrance to the sound of Taps.

The Pledge of Allegiance was led by members of Boy Scout and Cub Scout Troop 86.

Bill Voliva, Post 182 commander, read a resolution commemorating the service of Tyrrell mem and women in World War I, including the names of 10 local men who died in that conflict.

David Clegg, county manager, read a similar resolution adopted by the Tyrrell County Board of Commissioners.

The Rev. C.L. Reynolds, Army veteran and pastor of Engelhard Baptist Church, prayed the benediction.

Leroy Spivey, US Marine Corps veteran and Post 182 treasurer, presided.

At 11 a.m., exactly 100 years to the hour after the Armistice went into effect ending World War I, bells in churches and the courthouse rang out, much as occurred when news of the Great War’s end reached Americans a century ago.