Johana Slinkard sings the national anthem Saturday as members of the Limestone Veterans Burial Guard stand at attention.

Wrongs were made right at a somber Saturday event on the lawn at the Limestone County Courthouse as a corrected Vietnam memorial monument — and the names of those whose names are etched into it — were honored by those in attendance.

Guest speaker Jerry Barksdale, a retired attorney and military historian, noted it was Limestone County veteran Tony Grigsby who first noticed the word “Vietnam” was misspelled on the previous marker. The marker had been installed at the courthouse 30 years ago, and Grigsby noticed it was misspelled a few years later.

Limestone County Commission Chairman Mark Yarbrough said Grigsby had approached him about having the marker corrected. Yarbrough was on board with the idea. Sadly, Grigsby died in July of last year and did not see to see the idea come to fruition.

The Kenny E. Black chapter of the Marine Corps League, of which Grigsby was a member, continued to raise money for the monument after Grigsby’s death.

“My friend Tony Grigsby did not live to see this happen,” Yarbrough said. “(He’s) what started the ball rolling to get us here today. … I promise he’s looking down.”

Athens Mayor Ronnie Marks, a Vietnam veteran, also thanked Grigsby and those who contributed to the cause.

A veteran’s cause

Honoring veterans and those killed in action was a personal cause of Grigsby’s. He was a member of the Limestone Veterans Burial Guard.

Barksdale explained Grigsby had also purchased two vases for either side of the Vietnam memorial. Each Memorial Day, Grigsby would put flowers in the vases.

The 2,400-pound monument now features the correct spelling of Vietnam and also added the name of four Limestone Countians whose names were left off. For three of those, Barksdale explained there was some question about where those men were from.

Cpl. Roy Lee Moore graduated from Trinity High School and was 19 when he was killed in action. Lt. William Morgan Weed was an infantry commander killed at age 25 in Cambodia. Pfc. Ruben Lee Horton was 20 years old and only 19 days into his tour when he was killed.

The fourth, Seaman Thomas Belue Box, died when his ship, the USS Frank E. Evans DD-754, sank during a training accident. The ship was sliced in two by the Australian aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne, during training maneuvers in the early morning hours of June 3, 1969, outside the official war zone.

“He died in the service of his country, so his name has been duly added,” Barksdale said of Box.

In addition to the corrected Vietnam marker, two other markers were made honoring other Limestone Countians killed in the service of their country. One marker pays tribute to U.S. Marine Capt. William E. Winter, who was one of 241 American servicemen who lost their lives in the suicide attack on the Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, in October 1983.

“They were there on a mission of peace,” Barksdale said.

A third marker honors those who have been killed fighting in the Mideast — Lance Cpl. Adam Loggins, 27, of East Limestone, and Ricky Lee Turner, 20, a private in the U.S. Army. Loggins died in April 2007 from wounds sustained during combat operations in Al Anbar province. Turner was killed in January 2009 when an IED struck his vehicle near Baghdad.

“Loggins wanted to look back at his life and feel like he had done something important,” Barksdale said. “He always wanted to be a Marine, even though his family tried to talk him out of it. After 9/11, there was no stopping him.”

Like Loggins, Barksdale said Turner wanted to fight for his country.

“He died doing what he wanted to do,” Barksdale said, quoting Turner’s father, James Lee Turner.

Barksdale christened the tree that hangs above the monuments on the courthouse lawn as the “tree of liberty,” citing a quote by Thomas Jefferson: “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”

“We pay homage to 26 men, all Limestonians, who in the springtime of their lives died in the service of their country,” Barksdale said. “(The monuments) will remain in perpetuity. Future generations will be reminded of their service and the cost of freedom. To the living is left the duty to honor those whose blood has watered the tree of liberty.”