By Conita R. Butts, Church Liaison Journalist
Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church, under the pastoral leadership of Reverend Linzie Whitmill, celebrated veterans on Sunday, November 13. The members, and guest speaker, Pastor Jody Crawford, of Latter Rain Ministries in Imperial Beach, honored our nation’s heroes in a special service to commemorate their great sacrifices. Pastor Whitmill stated, “We wanted to call all of their names and present them with a certificate to let them know we appreciate them.” Minister of Affairs, Reverend Ray Smith, had this to say, “We have not given our African American veterans all of the recognition they deserve. They have risked their lives, fallen in wars, and we have not really stopped to tell them thank you. We invited them to come to participate in the special service by distributing invitational flyers to various churches. The fourth and eight district probably have about 15% of the San Diego population that served in the military and fought in the war and have never been recognized. We want to recognize them and to show them how much we appreciate them for all that they have done.”
Twenty-eight veterans from all arms of the military received a certificate and were served a light meal after service.
