The General John J. Pershing Boyhood Home State Historic Site will formally dedicate its First World War Commemorative Garden next week.
The ceremony will be held at the historic site in Laclede the afternoon of September 15th from 2 to 5 o’clock. Missouri State Parks report the dedication will commemorate the garden as a place of solemn reflection on the lives lost during the war.
Soil from the first eight First World War American Cemeteries will be scattered within the historic site’s garden during the ceremony. Pershing established the First World War American Cemeteries when he was chairman of the American Battlefield Monument Commission.
Lieutenant General Michael Lundy will be the featured speaker. Lundy is the commanding general of the Army Combined Arms Center and Fort Leavenworth, Kansas and commandant of the Army Command and General Staff College.
Also attending will be representatives from the Government of Belgium, American Battlefield Monuments Commission, First World War Centennial Commission, Smithsonian Institute, American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, Military Order of the World Wars, American Field Service, and Daughters of the American Revolution.
The 399th Army Band from Fort Leonard Wood will perform.
Call the General John J. Pershing Boyhood Home State Historic Site at 660-963-2525 for more information.
