DeSoto County Veterans Memorial dedicated
July 4, 2025 – Friday morning marked the dedication of the new DeSoto County Veterans Memorial, a monument honoring the servicemen and women from DeSoto County fighting for the freedom and independence celebrated on Independence Day.
The monument came about after Hernando Veterans Parade Committee members Danny Carter and Dale Bellflower came to the Board of Supervisors and asked about the possibility of erecting a memorial.
“Danny Carter was looking on the internet, just saw some monuments and saw they were around courthouses,” said committee president Keith Hawkins. “He said that we needed one in DeSoto County, and that’s how it started.”
It took about a year and a half to get approval from the Board of Supervisors, a design and location approved, and then efforts started to raise funds to build and erect the memorial.
Hawkins said support for the cost of the memorial, which was just short of $30,000, came from several entities, including the county and the cities of Hernando and Horn Lake. Other donors included Associated Wholesale Grocers, Inc., Douglas and Kay Morris, the Hernando Rotary Club, Josh and Natalie Lynch, N.C. “Tom” Ferguson, Renasant Bank, the Gun Shop Hernando, and William and Leeann Elrod.
Board of Supervisors president Mark Gardner said the memorial was approved to sit on the courthouse grounds, which also has another monument to law enforcement and first responders. Gardner added that county officials don’t want the lawn to be filled with memorials, but honoring veterans in this way was appropriate in this case.
“We’ve turned down a lot of monuments on the courthouse lawn,” Gardner said. “We’re just very protective of this as the peoples’ grounds and the peoples’ building. But if we can honor our first responders and honor our veterans, then we’re very much engaged.”
Speakers at the Friday ceremony included Third District Chancellor Percy Lynchard Jr. and Boulevard Baptist Church Pastor Eddie Barlow, a 26-year veteran, who spoke on what it meant to be a veteran.
Lynchard praised the sacrifice veterans were willing to make for all, even for those who today trash the country, naming professional basketball player Brittany Griner and Congresswomen Ilhan Omar and Maxine Waters specifically.
“They made that sacrifice, regardless of where you live, what you do, what color you are or who your family is,” Lynchard said. “That is the greatest, most selfless, generous and noble sacrifice that anyone, with the exception of Jesus Christ, ever made for anyone.”
Barlow recited statistics that said less than one percent served in the military and roughly seven percent have served in the military at some point in their lives.
“I am proud to have served my country and I would be willing to defend her again today,” Barlow said. “I’m thankful that we live in the greatest country in the world and I’m thankful for the relationship and the memories that I have with my fellow veterans.”
The monument is located on the south side of the Courthouse grounds next to the American flag pole.
