24 Oct 2020 Culpeper, VA
Dignitaries attending the ceremony were Culpeper Mayor Michael T. Olinger, Virginia SAR President and Culpeper Minutemen Chapter Member Bill Schwetke, Virginia DAR Regent LeAnn Turbyfill, Virginia C.A.R. President Catie Wasenko, and Virginia C.A.R. Senior President Stacey Wajciechowski.
Thirty SAR compatriots attended the ceremony, representing nine Virginia SAR Chapters. Eighteen participated in the Color Guard, and ten fired in the musket volley. CMM members attending included: Larry Alexander, Len Cowherd, Michael Dennis )Color Guard & Musket Volley), Tom Hamill (Color Guard), Aaron Hamill, Charles Jameson (Color Guard and Speaker), Alan Lacey (Color Guard and Fife), Lon Lacey III (Color Guard and Drum), Rich LePage, Bill Schwetke (Speaker), Sean Carrigan (Dual Member, Color Guard & Musket Volley, March Robinson (Dual Member & Musket Volley), Jeff Thomas (Dual Member & Video Filming), and Pat Kelly (Dual Member, Color Guard, & Musket Volley).
Keith Price of the Culpeper Minutemen Chapter lead the effort for this display for the past two years and was the Master of Ceremonies for the dedication. The Prelude to the ceremony was Revolutionary Fife and Drum Music by Lon Lacey III and Alan Lacey. VFW Post 2524 Color Guard presented the National Colors and fifteen SAR Color Guardsmen carried SAR and Historic flags. Rev Ludwell Brown of Mount Cavalry Baptist Church in Haywood gave the Invocation and Culpeper Sheriff's Deputy Melvin White sang the National Anthem. Remarks were delivered by Mayor Michael Olinger, Culpeper Minutemen Chapter President Charles Jameson, Culpeper Minute Men Chapter NSDAR Regent Carol Simpson, Virginia DAR Regent LeAnn Turbyfill, and Virginia SAR President Bill Schwetke. Then the Charters of Freedom were presented by Foundation Forward Founder Vance Patterson to the Town of Culpeper.
The program concluded with the raising of flags (Grand Union and Culpeper Battalion Flag) at the monument, with a musket volley as they reached the tops of the flag poles, and then an overhead flight by four WWII aircraft from the Commemorative Air Force.