WEST COLUMBIA, S.C. — Local veterans gathered for fun, music, dancing and food in West Columbia on Saturday.
After a prayer and flag ceremony, veterans were honored with a Veterans Day and Thanksgiving Dance and Potluck at Bill's Music Shop and Pickin' Parlor.
This patriotic music business has been hosting events like this one for years on the Fourth of July, Labor Day, and Memorial Day.
The event organizer, Richard Mullinax - a former Colonel in the State Guard and Vietnam-era Navy veteran - said events like this unite people who have sacrificed for our freedom.
"God called some of us veterans; we recognize them on Memorial Day, to give our life on the battlefield, and some of us. He let us come home and live, but we come home to live, to share the horrors of war so that maybe we won't ever have to go back to war again," Mullinax said.
He said it's important that events like this continue and remind younger generations of America's history and what we should be grateful for.
"We as veterans, all of us at one point in time, we stood and raised our hand, and we swore an oath to defend our way of life, our Constitution, defend our liberties and our freedoms that unborn generations one day would enjoy the freedoms that we get to enjoy. And in order to do that, we've got to keep it before them all the time, or they'll forget," Mullinax said.
Larry Boyd, another veteran who served over 35 years, said the bond veterans have is special.
"We call each other brothers, no matter what branch of military we were in," Boyd said.
"We're family. We greet each other and we really look forward to spending this time together," Mullinax said.