The Talladega community gathered to remember and celebrate the lives of those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country.

Narrator: Colonel (Ret) Chuck Keith
Adjutant: Master Sergeant (Ret) Danny Warwick
Invocation: Rev. Hugh Morris
The National Anthem: Jeff Wood
Welcome and Opening Remarks: Colonel (Ret) Chuck Keith
Roll Call of Remembrance: Alan Wheeles, David Yates, Joe Power, Lauren Deal, Roger Scott, Chet Hayes, Keela Brown, Tommy Spears, Jimmy Williams, SMSgt (Ret) Robert Kusterer
TAPS: Jeff Wood

Memorial Day Honor Guard:
The Talladega County Sheriff's Honor Team
The American Legion Riders, Post #17
All Active and Retired Military Personnel

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The parade included participation from the Talladega Fire Department, Parade Grand Marshall, Talladega College Band, Talladega Jeep Club, Anniston Corvette Club, American Legion Riders, American Legion Auxiliary, Gold Wing Riders, Anniston Army Depot, Alabama Army National Guard, Chamber Ambassadors, and more!

​​An Induction Ceremony for Talladega County veterans began at 12:00 behind the Hall of Heroes Museum.

Infamous Hotdog Social immediately followed!

Talladega crowds enjoyed the 20th Anniversary Remembrance Program at the Talladega County Courthouse.

After the city program, groups joined us for an Open House and Special Tribute to First Responders, on the back deck of the Hall of Heroes Museum.

Crowds enjoyed a lovely morning service on the Court House Square in Talladega to honor all those who had given their lives in the service of their country, with a special prayer for the 260 Talladega County residents who paid the ultimate sacrifice.

The Hall of Heroes hosted a series of Special Open Houses. everyone was encouraged to visit the newest Tribute Displays, Historic Exhibits, and Veterans Photos throughout the museum. crowds joined to honor and commemorate Veterans Day, the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II, as well as the enshrinement of Class 2020 Veteran's Photos into the Hall of Heroes.

Coffee and light Refreshments were served on the back deck for patrons to enjoy after touring the museum.

Present, July 4th 2020 - Members of the 461st Air Control Wing deployed in theater with their JSTARS aircraft.

Past - Mike Christian was born on October 17, 1940, in Huntsville, Alabama and enlisted in the United States Navy at the age of 17.

Mike christian had a humble upbringing, and according to Senator John McCain (who served with Mike) he did not even have a pair of shoes until he was 13 years old. Mike Christian trained and worked in the Navy initially as an aircraft mechanic and aviation electronics technician. He earned a Bachelors Degree from Purdue University while serving in the Navy and continuously proved himself through his dedication, patriotism, and ambition. He was accepted and entered the Naval Flight Officer Training School at Pensacola, Florida, where he earned a commission as a Naval Officer and Aviator. He became the Navigator-Bombardier on an A-6 “Intruder” assigned aboard the USS Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier and sailed for duty in Vietnam in February 1967. Within a month Mike was flying combat missions over north Vietnam. On April 24, 1967, his A-6 Intruder was shot down by anti-aircraft fire, and he was forced to eject and was captured. Mike spent 2,141 days (almost 6 years) as a Prisoner-of-War in the infamous ‘Hanoi Hilton’, a dilapidated old prison used to confine American Prisoners by the North Vietnamese.

Conditions in the Hanoi Hilton were cruel, brutal, depriving, isolating, and of the harshest circumstances. While on the prison yard one day Mike Christian found a dirty old white handkerchief in a drainage pipe that he smuggled back to his cell. He planned to make an American Flag from this. His fellow prisoners saw Mike spending days cleaning up the dirty handkerchief making it as white as he possibly could. he then used blue ink to create the field, ground up roof tile rubble to make a red dye for the bars, and sewed in the fifty stars with a makeshift fashioned bamboo needle and white threads from his prison blanket. Once the Flag was created, Mike stitched it inside of his shirt.

According to Senator John McCain, who shared a cell with Mike Christian, “It was the practice of the prisoners that every afternoon before they got their ration of soup, they would hang Mike's shirt on the wall and recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Now, repeating the Pledge of Allegiance may not be the most important part of the average American day, but for those men in that stark prison cell, it was the most important and meaningful event of their day.

One day, the Vietnamese searched the cell and discovered Mike's shirt with the flag sewn inside. they removed it and him, and for the "benefit" of the other prisoners beat Mike Christian severely for hours. his cell had a concrete slab on which the men slept and a naked light bulb in each corner of the room. After things had quieted down for the evening, in the corner of the room, sitting beneath that dimly lit bulb with a piece of white cloth, a piece of red cloth, another blue shirt and his bamboo needle, was Mike Christian. His eyes almost swollen shut from the beating, he was fashioning another American flag. he knew how important it was for his fellow prisoners to be able to pledge allegiance to our Flag and to our country.

​Lieutenant Commander Mike Christian was liberated as a Prisoner-of-War on March 4, 1973. Christian died from smoke inhalation in a Virginia Beach, Va., fire in September 1983. Story shared by cdkeith06

The Talladega Hall of Heroes Committee conducted a Memorial Day Remembrance Ceremony on Monday, the 25th of May. The Ceremony will took place on the Talladega County Courthouse Lawn adjacent to the Veteran's Memorial Monument. The ceremony began promptly at 11:00 a.m. Participants included local musician Jeff Woods, the American Legion Post #17 Mortorcycle Riders, The Talladega County Sheriff's Honors Team, as well as the members of the Hall of Heroes Museum Committee.

The ceremony consisted of an opening prayer, the National Anthem, a reading of the list of names of Military Personnel from Talladega County who have paid the supreme sacrifice, TAPS, and an Honor Guard Salute. A wreath was placed in front of the monument immediately prior to the ceremony.