Do you know the real meaning of Memorial Day? Yes, it’s May 29 this year, a day off work, a long weekend and the beginning of summer vacations. But it’s more than that. It’s the day set apart for us to honor those who died in war. A veteran is someone who, at one point in his or her life, wrote a blank check payable to the “citizens of the United States for an amount up to and including my life.”

Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, Bryant H. Womack, is one of those veterans. So, who is Bryant Womack? There’s a building in Columbus named after him, his picture is hanging in the entrance to the Rutherford County Courthouse and the Medical Center at Fort Bragg is named after him, too. He wrote that blank check and lost his life for you and me.

Bryant was born May 12, 1931 and died March 12, 1952 in Korea, two months before his 21^st birthday. A copy of his citation is in the hallway in the Bryant H. Womack Justice & Administration Building in Columbus (across the street from the old Courthouse). Take a few minutes to read it and think about the real meaning of Memorial Day.

Members of Chapter 265 of the North Carolina Korean War Veterans Association will visit Lebanon United Methodist Church on Sunday, May 7, to honor Bryant H. Womack, and other veterans buried in the cemetery. The program will begin with the 11 a.m. worship service. Navy Chaplin (Ret.) Young Chang Ha will deliver the message and Chuck and Nikki Chung, missionaries to Cambodia, will be the guest speakers at the memorial service. Everyone is welcome to join us. The church is located at 2330 Big Level Road, Mill Spring, NC 28756.

Chapter 265 of the North Carolina Korean War Veterans Association was formed in June of 2002. This chapter has built a Korean War Veterans Memorial to honor North Carolinians killed or missing in action during the Korean War. The memorial is located in Mint Hill, N.C., at the park on Fairview at the intersection of NC Highway 218 and Interstate 485. I suggest you take time to visit this memorial, too.

Submitted by Rebecca E. Elliott