Fort Walton Beach to Commemorate Memorial Day at Veterans Tribute Tower

A Memorial Day Ceremony will be conducted at 10 a.m. on Monday, May 27, at Veterans Tribute Tower located at Beal Memorial Cemetery (316 Beal Parkway NW in Fort Walton Beach). The public is invited to attend and participate in the celebration. The event is hosted by the Veterans Tribute Tower Committee.

Colonel Griffin Merrill, Deputy Commander of the 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne), Camp “Bull Simons”, Eglin Air Force Base, will be the guest speaker. Also participating in the ceremony will be State Representative Patt Maney (Brigadier General retired) and 96th Test Wing Deputy Commander Colonel Thomas Tauer.

Names of those veterans who have passed since Memorial Day 2023 will be remembered by having their names read during the ceremony. An organization aware of any veterans who have passed since that time are invited to provide those names by Monday, May 20, 2024 by dropping them off at the Magnolia Grill (157 Brooks Street SE in Fort Walton Beach or via email. Those names will be included in the reading during the ceremony.

In case of inclement weather, the ceremony will be conducted at American Legion Post 235 located at 105 Hollywood Boulevard in Fort Walton Beach. For more information contact Tom Rice at the Magnolia Grill by calling (850) 302-0266.

Constructed at the Verdin Bell Company’s foundry in Cincinnati, Ohio, the 30-foot-high Veterans Tribute Tower was installed in 2015 as an initiative of U.S. Army veteran Tom Rice who serves on the board of the Tribute Tower Committee Board. The tower’s Freedom Bell was poured and cast by the company in Fort Walton Beach’s Uptown Station via a mobile foundry.

While the Veterans Tribute Tower honors area veterans, it also provides an accessible place where community members can also show their respect and appreciation. Not all community residents have access to Eglin Air Force Base to visit other veteran monuments.