‘We must always remember’: SCV, UDC cite need to preserve history at Confederate Memorial event
May 14, 2013
By MISSY RICHARDSON, T&D Correspondent
“A lot of people would like to push us under the rug and pretend that we didn’t exist,” Buzz Braxton of Rivers Bridge Camp #842, Sons of Confederate Veterans, told those gathered for the annual Confederate Memorial Day program on Memorial Plaza in downtown Orangeburg Saturday afternoon.
“We must preserve the good name of the Confederate soldier … We must always remember and honor” those who fought for the Confederacy, Braxton said.
Firing cannons that echoed across the square to commemorate Confederate Memorial Day were Charley and Danny Dempsey and Allen Rush of the Olin M. Dantzler Camp #73, SCV. A rifle volley was presented by Ron Udell and other members of the Brig. Gen. E. Porter Alexander Camp, SCV, of Augusta, Ga.
“I love that,” said Karen Black, president of the Paul McMichael Chapter #427, United Daughters of the Confederacy, when the cannons roared.
Lt. Commander Irvin Shuler of the Eutaw Regiment Camp #1189, SCV, said Saturday’s ceremony was held to honor Confederate heroes. Shuler thanked everyone in attendance, noting that area SCV camps had started the day by celebrating Confederate Memorial Day at the Calhoun County Courthouse in St. Matthews.
Dwight Horton, commander of the Olin M. Dantzler Camp #73, SCV, said the Sons of Confederate Veterans and the United Daughters of the Confederacy are the “last line of defense” in preserving the history of the Confederacy.
“As long as I am standing and breathing, I will teach my grandchildren to remember,” Horton said. “We must always remember and recognize the Confederate veterans and the families that they left behind.”
Keynote speaker the Rev. Ed Westbury of the Gen. Joseph B. Kershaw Camp #82, SCV, of Camden spoke of Confederate heroes and what they lost. Among those he mentioned was Wiley Clyburn, an African-American Confederate soldier.
“He was a hero,” Westbury said. “It is time for us to stop worrying about being politically correct. We have to be true to God and to ourselves.
“We are here today to honor our Confederates because it is our duty.”
Westbury said 60,000 men from South Carolina fought in the Civil War and more than 17,000 paid the ultimate price by giving their lives to defend their way of life and their homeland.
The ceremony was closed with prayer and the singing of “Dixie.”
© Copyright 2013, The Times and Democrat
