Taking a moment to celebrate Veterans Day early, one member of Heritage Health Center received a special ceremony Monday afternoon.
Rolling Thunder Chapter 4 President Jeff Kilbourn and Bob Rambo stopped by the Elizabethton facility to provide Glenn Blacklidge a pin and plaque to honor his service to his country. Blacklidge is a veteran that served with the United State Marine Corps.
“This is very important,” Kilbourn said about honoring veterans. “That’s what we do, we want to keep our mission statement out to the public. To come out here and honor individuals, like this gentleman, is an honor and privilege.”
Rolling Thunder is constantly active in the country and any time they can be with veterans, they want to enjoy every minute of it, Kilbourn said. Along with pinning ceremonies like Monday, the Chapter takes part in a multitude of other activities to benefit veterans, at home and abroad. The group is hosting an event to honor veterans and police departments across the area on Wednesday, Nov. 9, at the Jonesborough Visitor’s Center – scheduled to begin at 11 a.m.
“We have ceremonies set aside where we honor those that have not come back from service,” Kilbourn said. “We also have the roll call, play taps at each of our events and this year we had a flag ceremony. Each year we do over 150 ceremonies.”
Along with the Rolling Thunder representatives, Elizabethton Mayor Curt Alexander and Councilman Wes Frazier stopped by the facility to give Blacklidge their thanks for serving the country.