Event kicks-off Memorial Day celebration

A man who exemplifies public duty on multiple fronts will be the main speaker at Thursday’s Navy Night, the ceremony that begins the Memorial Day Parade weekend celebration.

State Rep. Terry Johnson is in his first term in the Ohio House of Representatives representing the 89th District. Currently, Johnson is also a colonel in the Ohio Army National Guard serving as a state surgeon and is a former commander of the National Guard Medical Detachment.

A practicing physician, Johnson is director of the family practice residency program at Southern Ohio Medical Center and an assistant dean of Ohio University’s College of Osteopathic Medicine. He is a veteran of the global war on terror where he has completed three tours of duty.

“Navy Night honors our Navy and Coast Guard, those who serve our country by water,” according to Lou Pyles, spokeswoman of the 143rd Ironton-Lawrence County Memorial Day Parade committee.

Navy Night begins at 7 p.m. at the Lawrence County Courthouse where a procession will march to the Center Street Boat Landing. There, the ceremony will follow with Lawrence County Common Pleas Judge Charles Cooper acting as host for the event.

Joining the event will be the Ohio University Community Band drum corps, local Girl Scouts and the Grand Marshal Honor Guard from the American Legion.

The ceremony will feature the dropping of a wreath into the Ohio River.

“We do that to honor our fallen veterans who are buried at sea,” Pyles said.

This year there will also be a special flag folding ceremony at Navy Night.