By Rita Howell
Memorial Day programs are planned Monday in Sardis and Batesville in remembrance of Panola Countians who died in service of our country.
In Batesville, the VFW Panola Memorial Post 4968 will host an observance at 11 a.m. at the post, located at 365 Highway 51 South.
Leroy Matthews will welcome guests and Ed Casteel will offer the invocation.
Members of American Legion Post 118 will post the colors.
The South Panola High School Choir will sing the National Anthem.
Retired Mississippi Supreme Court Justice George C. Carlson will be the guest speaker.
Boy Scouts of Troop 478 will conduct a flag retiring ceremony.
After the program, members of the VFW Auxiliary will serve lemonade and cookies.
In Sardis, the American Legion will host a Memorial Day program at 10 a.m. at Rose Hill Cemetery. Members will place flags on the graves of all veterans.
The public is invited to both programs.
Ninety Panola Countians are known to have died in the service of our country in the wars of the 20th and 21st Centuries. Their names are engraved on a memorial in Downtown Batesville. The list is reproduced today on page A12.