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The Covington Veterans Foundation will present “Step Into History: Veterans Tribute Walking Tour”, on Saturday, May 25, at 10 a.m. at the Covington Veterans Memorial.

This tour will highlight the stories and sacrifices of those who died from our area in our nation’s conflicts.

Among these are Comer Wilson who died aboard the U.S.S. Arizona at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. He was the first from Covington County killed in World War II. The last local serviceman killed in the war was Captain Perry Balkom,  pilot of a B-29 heavy bomber that crashed after a raid on Japan on August 8, 1945. Balkom was lost two days after the first atomic bomb fell on Hiroshima and the day before the second at Nagasaki. The Japanese Emperor would announce his nation’s surrender a week later.

Others who fell in the Korean, Vietnam and later wars will be honored by having their stories told. The Covington Veterans Foundation currently has memorial banners for all those lost from this area in the Vietnam and later conflicts. It is currently working to obtain more pictures of those killed in the Second World War to produce a banner for those servicemen.

The tour should last about an hour and is free to all who wish to attend. The tour will be handicap accessible. Please muster at the Veterans Memorial behind city hall at 9:45.