BAY MINETTE, Alabama — Several activities will be held Wednesday, Nov. 11, to honor veterans as part of the Veterans Day celebration in North Baldwin. The activities will include a breakfast, parade and special ceremonies throughout the day.

The recognition begins at 8 a.m. with a breakfast at the John F. Rhodes Civic Center in Bay Minette. The breakfast, sponsored by the City of Bay Minette, is free and open to the public.

The Baldwin County High School ROTC will post the colors for the event. Police Chaplain Robert Gates will give the invocation.

Retired Army Sgt. Matthew Craig will sing the National Anthem and God Bless America. Craig served as teacher with the Baldwin County Board of Education for more than six years before joining the military in 2011.

He was stationed at Ft. Riley in Kansas and was deployed to Afghanistan for Operation Enduring Freedom 12-13 from May 2012 to February 2013. Craig was awarded the AAM with 1 Oak Leaf Cluster, ARCOM with 1 Oak Leaf Cluster, Combat Action Badge and a Meritorious Unit Citation. He medically retired with an honorable discharge in 2014. He now resides in Bay Minette with his wife Arin and son Sawyer and works for United Bank.

Mayor Robert A. “Bob” Wills will provide opening remarks at the breakfast and introduce the guest speaker Retired U.S. Army Maj.Stephen Sexton. The Andalusia native graduated from the University of South Alabama with a bachelor’s degree in education and the Pentecostal Theological Seminary with a master’s of divinity.

Sexton enlisted in the Army after high school in 1976. Received a commission in 1998 and served two tours in Iraq and one in Bosnia. His assignments included Germany, South Korea, Fort Benning in Georgia, Fort Shafter in Hawaii and Fort Rucker in Alabama.

Sexton graduated from the U.S. Army Command General and Staff College. He was awarded the Bronze Star during Operation Iraqi Freedom, Meritorious Service Medal and the Combat Action Badge.

Parade and Eternal Flame Ceremony

Following the breakfast, the annual Veterans Day parade will begin at 10:15 a.m. from Bay Minette Intermediate School. The parade will end at the Eternal Flame on Courthouse Square for a brief ceremony.

Kay Corley will sing the National Anthem and Mayor Wills will give the invocation. Following a performance of Taps, Frazier Martin will give the dedication and Kay Corley will sing America the Beautiful.

For the parade, Retired U.S. Army Command Sgt. Maj. Herb Waters will serve as the grand marshal. Waters entered the U.S. Marines in 1946-when he was 17 years old. Waters left the service in the spring of 1947 and went back for his senior year at Baldwin County High School. He started his senior of high school in September of 1947 and the spring of 1948 he joined the local National Guard Unit B Battery 711 AAA Gun Battalion. He went to three summer camps with the unit 1948, 1949 and 1950 and they were called to active duty due to the Korean War.

Waters served two tours in Germany, two tours in Korea, two tours in Vietnam, one tour in Greenland and several tours at different stateside posts. He retired in 1975 as a command sergeant major. He went on to work for many years for the U.S. Postal Service, Pine Grove Water System and Baldwin Baptist Disaster teams.

He is active in his local church Pine Grove Baptist and enjoys gardening, traveling, visiting with his family and staying in touch with his many Army friends.

Korean Memorial Ceremony

Another special Veterans Day ceremony will take place at 11 a.m. at the Korean War Memorial monument on the front lawn of the Bay Minette Public Library. The ceremony will include the First Call, lowering of old flag and raising of new one, and the laying of the wreath, among other events.

Veterans Home Ceremony

At 2 p.m., a ceremony will take place at the William F. Green State Veterans Home in Bay Minette. This event is open to the public.

For more information about these events, call the North Baldwin Chamber of Commerce at 251-937-5665.