D’s Diner feeds Veterans

The Veterans at the Library held their weekly meeting at the Library Monday morning, October 6, at 9 a.m. With Chair Johnny Tapley presiding, they had 46 in attendance. D’s Diner located at 226 W. Moring Street, provided a great breakfast of sausage gravy, biscuits, grits, scrambled eggs, sausage, fresh cut-up fruit, muffins with jelly, cheese and all the trimmings. D’s Diner will be moving to a new location in approximately three weeks to 431 North Main Street. Shari Watt furnished the orange juice, cranberry juice, grape juice, apple juice and coffee. The three newest veterans are Steven DeRaps who served in the U.S. Army from 1973 until 1993. DeRaps is a veteran of the Vietnam War and Desert Storm war. He was stationed in the United States, Vietnam, Korea and Germany. His highest rank was SFC. The second newest veteran is Nancy Samples Shimoyama who served in the Georgia Army National Guard. Shimoyama was stationed with Company A, 878th Combat Engineer Battalion, Hvy. in Swainsboro and she served from 1977 until 1982. Her highest rank was E-4. The third newest veteran is James Russell Mason, Jr. who served in the U.S. Air Force from 2012 until 2016. Mason, Jr. served with the 23rd Air Wing and was stationed at Lackland AFB, Pensacola NAS and Moody AFB. His highest rank was SRA. Chair Johnny then spoke about the upcoming “Wreaths Across America” project and that they still have 60 cemeteries to see if any veterans are buried there out of 180 cemeteries in Emanuel County. Veteran Scotty Nasworthy stated that they will be getting 2,750 wreaths on or about December 10 to put out on WAA Day. WAA day is December 13 this year and they put U.S. Flags on the veteran’s graves on November 30 to mark where they put the Wreaths. Also, don’t forget about the “Wounded Warriors 14th Annual Sportsman’s Banquet and Auction” that will be held on October 16, 2025, at 5:30 p.m. at Beaver Creek Plantation, 3698 Hwy 80 East, Twin City. For $60.00 tickets and sponsorship, call Veteran Terry Reynolds at 478.494.3758.