Veterans Day celebration Sunday at Moody Museum
The Moody Museum is honoring military veterans past and present with a special program Sunday.
The museum holds “Salute to the Troops” at 2 p.m. on the museum lawn, 114 W. Ninth St. The event has been running for a decade, only taking a break during 2020 and 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Veterans Day is recognized nationwide on Tuesday.
“We need to honor our veterans and it’s important to say, ‘Thank you.’ This is our way of doing it,” said Susan Komandosky, chairwoman of the museum advisory board.
This year’s keynote speaker is Taylor’s American Legion Commander Scott Dean.
Dean, an Army veteran, spoke at Salute to the Troops about 10 years ago and is pleased to be invited back.
“It fits very well because Dan Moody was the very first commander of the American Legion here in Taylor,” Dean said.
Moody, a Taylor native and lawyer, took on the Klu Klux Klan in court in the 1920s and also became the state’s youngest governor. He served in both the Texas National Guard as a second lieutenant and then a captain. A stint in the Army followed, also as a second lieutenant.
In preparation for Taylor’s sesquicentennial celebration next year, the museum is planning to erect a life-size statue of its namesake. Meanwhile, Dean’s American Legion Post 39 is undergoing renovations to update its history.
For the Sunday Salute to the Troops program, the museum will host students from Main Street Elementary.
“Their choir group is going to sing some patriotic songs and lead us in the national anthem,” Komandosky said.
The Taylor Fire Department honor guard will also raise the flag. After the flag-raising, music and Dean’s speech, guests are invited inside the museum for refreshments and to view displays of military memorabilia.
One of those exhibits focuses on Sidney Pierce, the first Taylor resident to die during World War II.
“We have his Purple Heart (medal) and his picture and plaque in our collection,” Komandosky said.
A Purple Heart is bestowed in the name of the president to those wounded or killed in action.
Some of the displays, such as Pierce’s, are museum property, but others are loaned from local veterans or families of veterans.
Guests are invited to bring their own memorabilia, if the items are not too large, and they will be added to the museum’s displays and returned after the program.
“It’s a way to share their experience being in the military,” Komandosky said. “Everybody tells their story a little differently.”
