KIMBALL, Tenn. — During a weeklong celebration of this country’s veterans, the Sequatchie Valley Honor Guard paused on Saturday to salute one of Marion County’s greatest military heroes.
In June, a plaque at the entrance to the Cumberland View Cemetery in Kimball was dedicated to Medal of Honor winner Master Sgt. Raymond Cooley, but honor guard, a group of military veterans who pay tribute to deceased service members at funerals from Dunlap, Tenn., to Scottsboro, Ala., wasn’t able to be there at the time.
Still, the honor guard wanted to lay a special wreath at Cooley’s grave and perform a 21-gun salute, said Susan Collins, Americanism chairman for the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 6362 Ladies Auxiliary in Jasper, Tenn.
“This is just a way of letting them pay tribute to their comrade,” she said.
Connie Barnes, Cooley’s great-niece, and several other family members attended the ceremony.