Bruce McCartney addressed the mayor and council at their March 3 council meeting about the possibility of beginning the process of trying to rename the Hinesville VA Clinic in honor of two Riceboro Vietnam veterans who were killed in the war.
Local veteran Donald Singleton addressed the mayor and council. He said he served in the Vietnam War and it was there that he was wounded. He said he experienced the horrors of death and destruction every day while deployed.
“And that didn’t happen only one time, that happened every day,” Singleton said about the war.
He spoke about being in the jungles of Vietnam for days on end, occasionally finding water to drink or to bathe in.
“And you got in the water with a bar of soap and you washed yourself and your clothes at the same time,” he said.
His last day in the field was when a fellow soldier jumped on a live grenade, which Singleton said killed the soldier, wounded him and two others but saved his life.
“That was over 50 years ago, and it seems like it was yesterday,” he said. “But that is some of the things these two guys did and why we are trying to get the clinic named after them.
“That is just some of the things they had to go through.”
Riceboro native John Gibson was a Marine Combat Infantryman who died in Vietnam on Feb. 7, 1968, while engaging the enemy. Riceboro native Dan James was an Army Combat Infantryman who died in Vietnam on Dec. 29, 1968, while fighting the enemy.
McCartney said he wants the VA Clinic in Hinesville to be the first clinic named after folks who were natives of Liberty County instead of being named for another military figure. He said that currently, none of the community-based outpatient clinics are named for anyone.
“We want to be the first, and their families deserve it,” McCartney said, adding that he has spoken to the surviving members of both men and that they support the measure.
He said if the city writes a resolution, it would be sent to state Rep. Al Williams, who in turn would work with Buddy Carter and others in the Georgia delegation to get the proposal to Congress. If passed, the VA clinic would be renamed the John Gibson/ Dan James VA Clinic. A similar motion failed to pass during a vote at the Liberty County commissioners’ Jan. 20, meeting. But a resolution on this matter was approved by the city of Riceboro at their council meeting on Feb. 1.
McCartney said they plan to also petition the city of Midway to approve a resolution.
Councilman Karl Riles said he was ready to move forward with a resolution and asked the rest of the council members and mayor to read through the material provided by McCartney so they could possibly take action on it at their next meeting March 17.
Also during the meeting, the mayor and council approved the final plat for the Gardens at Fifteen West, phase 1.
Ryan Arnold requested the mayor and council approve an award from a request for proposal to Swindell Construction Company, Inc., for $85,171.25 and to approve resolution 2022-04 to enter into an intergovernmental agreement with the city of Walthourville for construction of Liberty Transit ADA infrastructure. The measure was approved.
The mayor and council approved a peddler’s license for Kenneth Christmas III, of Liberty Pure of Georgia LLC, to send representatives door to door to solicit water purification systems. They also approved a peddler’s license for Nick Westbrook to operate the new Chick-Fil-A food truck in the city.
City engineer Paul Simonton said a supply chain issue is still causing some delays in the completion of Bradwell Park.