An investigation is underway after a veteran’s microphone was cut off as his Memorial Day speech ventured into how former slaves in Charleston, South Carolina helped start the holiday when they dug up the remains of 200 Union soldiers to give them a proper burial shortly after the Civil War ended.
HUDSON, Ohio (AP) Organizers of a Memorial Day ceremony turned off a speaker’s microphone when the former U.S. Army officer began talking about how freed Black slaves had honored fallen soldiers soon after the Civil War.
HUDSON, Ohio (AP) â Organizers of a Memorial Day ceremony turned off a speakerâs microphone when the former U.S. Army officer began talking about how freed Black slaves had honored fallen soldiers soon after the Civil War.
Retired Army Lt. Col. Barnard Kemter said he included the story in his speech because he wanted to share the history of how Memorial Day originated.
But organizers of the ceremony in Hudson, Ohio, said that part of the speech was not relevant to the program s theme of honoring the city s veterans.
Cindy Suchan, chair of the Memorial Day parade committee and president of the Hudson American Legion Auxiliary, said it was either she or Jim Garrison, adjutant of the American Legion Post 464, who turned down the audio, the Akron Beacon Journal reported.