Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Terry Lewis

ALBANY — As retired Marine Capt. Kenneth Bevel stood speaking at the podium during Wednesday’s joint Veterans Day celebration and new Broad Avenue Memorial Bridge dedication, he paused and looked toward the playground behind the nearby Albany Welcome Center, which was bustling with the sights and sounds of children at play.

“Veterans served so we can hear the bellows of the small children playing on the playground to my right,” Bevel said. “This is why veterans fight. This is why, so we can live in a land that is free from adversity and discrimination and live a life that is honoring and is pleasing to our God.”

The joint holiday and new bridge dedication, honoring all of American’s veterans since World War I, brought out a large crowd of vets, active duty service members, dignitaries, college students, supporters and children in the playground.

The original bridge, built in 1920, was shut down in February 2009 after the Georgia Department of Transportation deemed it unfit for travel. Three years later, the Veterans Coalition of Southwest Georgia officially decommissioned it and plans began for the construction of a new bridge.

For the past six years the city was symbolically divided. That all changed Wednesday when the cut blue ribbon fluttered to the ground.

“Veterans Day is a day set aside to honor, pay tribute to and say thanks to the men and women of our armed forces of the United States of America,” Albany Mayor Dorothy Hubbard said. “We thank you veterans for your service. We thank you veterans for your sacrifice. We thank you veterans for your commitment. We thank you veterans for protecting our freedoms every day. It is fitting and proper that as were are bridging this community, the city of Albany, Dougherty County and Albany State University are saluting you with this veterans day ceremony and the Broad Avenue Memorial Bridge opening ceremony.

Hubbard said the new $12 million span will honor the community’s veterans while also uniting the city.

“We want every one of you who have served and those of you who are currently serving to remember this day and this bridge as a symbol of our respect for you and for the service you have rendered to our country,” she said. We want the Broad Avenue Memorial Bridge to be a symbol that honors our veterans, our past and our future and a symbol of our progress and our hope for the future.

“We will never forget you and we thank you for service to our country.

Dougherty County Commission chairman Chris Cohilas agreed with the mayor.

“It is my distinct honor to welcome everyone to this momentous occasion as we honor our veterans who have so courageously risked their lives for our country and our community. The old bridge connected our community both physically and symbolically,” Cohilas said. “Today the opening of the new Broad Avenue Memorial Bridge is likewise symbolic. It honors all of our local veterans during WWI and after. It bridges time while honoring the past and it serves to connect the citizens of Dougherty County on both sides of the Flint River to each other.

“This bridge is symbolic of the work and the collaboration that many in this community have worked to establish. Without that collaboration this project would have never occurred. This bridge is the physical culmination of the collaborative efforts by the city, community leaders and the Georgia Department of Transportation to connect the past to the future and the community to itself.”

Marine Corps Logistics Base-Albany Commanding officer Col. James Carroll thanked the community for it’s strong support of the military.

“Since 1952, Marine Corps Logistics Base-Albany has been an integral part of this community and southwest Georgia,” Carroll said. “The bond that we share together is just as strong today as it was in 1952. That’s because of each of you and the support and the care you give to each one of us. Many have come through Marine Corps Logistics Base-Albany, retirees and veterans now. This community’s strong bond is second to none. In almost 30 years in the Marine Corps I have traveled across this great nation and I have never run across a community that has a stronger bond with retirees as well as active duty that exists here in Albany, Ga.

“So I salute each of you for your commitment and your untiring support to help us defend this great nation. The truth of the matter is we have a strong military, but the strongest part of it is the support we receive from the citizens each and every day. That is really our true strength is the support you give us each and every day.”

U.S. Rep Sanford Bishop, D-Albany, said the new bridge is an apt reminder of the commitment and sacrifice made every day by the country’s veterans.

“I am grateful to be home in Albany and honoring all the men and women who have served in America’s armed forces. It is their sacrifice and commitment to this nation that allows us to gather here today in freedom to witness the opening of this bridge” Bishop said. “As a nation we are not just indebted to veterans for what they did on the battlefield or were deployed abroad in harm’s way or on active duty here at home, we are also indebted to them because of their commitment to serving our nation and that did not end once their military service was completed.

Veteran Jimmy Blaylock, who lost an arm during the Vietnam War, reminded the gathering to thank a veteran for his or her service while there is still time left to do so.

“Veterans Day is when the nation calls upon us to salute all who have served and those who continue to serve in uniform. Those who served in peace as well as in times of war,” Blaylock said. “Respect them when you see them and meet them. Thank them when you see them or meet them. We sometimes overlook the sacrifices of those who came before us. Being remembered as one who served is often the full extent of many veteran’s legacy shared, unfortunately, only in their obituary.

“Our liberties were protected by their time in service and we should let them know it while they can still hear it.”