Candlelight vigil planned to recognize local soldiers

By AMY SATTERWHITE / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard

Connie Ditmore, spouse of deployed soldier Staff Sgt. Robert Ditmore, is encouraging remembrance for soldiers this holiday season. She and a group of others have organized a New Year’s Eve candlelight vigil at the National Guard Armory from 6 to 8 p.m.

One big thing has been missing from Connie Ditmore’s holiday schedule this year — her husband.

Deployed to Iraq with the local National Guard unit’s 278th Regimental Combat Team, Staff Sgt. Robert Ditmore will be far from forgotten, however. Connie Ditmore seeks to make sure her husband, along with all the other soldiers who missed Thanksgiving and Christmas with their families this year, are remembered this New Year’s Eve.

Ditmore and other families have been meeting locally since soldiers of the local unit were deployed overseas and are organizing a candlelight vigil at the National Guard Armory on New Year’s Eve. The hope is the community will rally in support and remembrance of those stationed in Iraq and elsewhere.

“It’s hard to put up the tree,” Ditmore said of celebrating the holidays. “It’s hard to get in the Christmas spirit because there is a part of you missing. You literally have to make yourself, on some days, function and go through the motions and carry on.

“And we know it’s getting hard for the guys too. Talking to them, it’s Christmas and they’re missing home, but one thing we have to keep in mind is that we do still have the comforts of our homes. We still crawl into our beds at night and our guys don’t. Our guys want their families taken care of and they worry about us and we worry about them, so we want everybody to remember and pray for them,” she added.

The candlelight vigil is taking place at the armory from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday. Organizers are planning refreshments, a balloon release, candle lighting, a guest speaker and prayer. If possible, they are hoping to establish a remembrance wall comprised of pictures of soldiers to be left at the armory, which will serve as a visual reminder of deployed soldiers.

Ditmore said a strong showing of community support is welcome, as everyone is invited to attend and help remember and honor the soldiers.

“There’s a saying that I put on every one of my Christmas cards and I write it on my bills daily,” she said.

“That is, ‘Holidays, Family, Friends and Freedom – Have you thanked a solider lately?’ We need to remember that we take so many things for granted that we get to do. We take our spouses, our sons and our daughters for granted until they’re not there. And we want everybody to pray for them and help remember them,” she said.