Hoover kicks off 2018 Thank A Vet Week
The city of Hoover on Sunday afternoon kicked off its 2018 Thank A Vet Week with a celebration at the Hoover Public Library.
About 250 people showed up to honor U.S. military veterans and hear a concert by the Alabama Youth Symphony.
A 2 p.m. program in the Hoover Library Theatre paid tribute to all U.S. veterans, and especially to Allen Pate, the Hoover Area Chamber of Commerce’s 2018 Freedom Award winner.
Pate served two years in the U.S. Navy from June 1966 to July 1968, spending time in Vietnam with the Navy’s construction battalions, better known as the Seabees.
“They were the tough, rough and ready guys like most construction people are,” said retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Paul Pocopanni, chairman of the Hoover Veterans Committee. “They would be dropped off in the jungles, desert — anywhere in the world — and build runways, hangars, barracks and buildings from the ground up to fight a war, and if it was the Air Force, they would build us golf courses.”
But Pate was selected not only for his military service but also for his commitment and dedication to serving the city of Hoover. He served 29 years with the city, most in his former role as executive director, a position from which he retired in January 2017.
With his construction background, Pate’s fingerprints are on most of the public buildings in Hoover, Pocopanni said. He has earned the respect, pride of admiration of the city’s residents, who speak warmly of him, Pocopanni said.
Pate also has assisted in honoring veterans throughout the years. He was instrumental in developing the Veterans Memorial Plaza at Veterans Park off Valleydale Road and the Veterans Memorial Arbor at Aldridge Gardens.
Pate, who attended today’s program with his wife of 54 years, Edna, said he was honored to be on the same list as other veterans who have won the award in the past.
Retired Army Col. Peyton Ligon, a member of the Hoover-based Ryan Winslow American Legion Post 911, shared about the national Wreaths Across America program, which each year honors veterans across the country by placing wreaths on their graves in December.
The Ryan Winslow American Legion Post 911 each year tries to raise enough money to place wreaths on the graves of veterans buried at Jefferson Memorial Gardens on John Hawkins Parkway. Now, there are about 700 veterans buried there, and with the wreaths costing $15 apiece, they will need $10,500 this year.
Attendees at today’s program also heard several songs presented by the Alabama Youth Symphony and then were invited to attend a reception in the theater lobby and a U.S. flag-lowering and folding ceremony in front of the library.
The flag lowered today was presented to Pate. Additional flag-folding ceremonies are scheduled at 4:45 p.m. Monday through Thursday of this week, with those flags being presented to other veterans who live in Hoover. Each of the flags previously has been flown over the state capitol in Montgomery.
Click here to read about other events to honor veterans in Hoover throughout this month.