VFW organizations from the Montgomery County area and the Military Order of the Purple Heart will host a ceremony on Sept. 14 at the Montgomery County High School to honor Purple Heart county residents as well as proclaim the county and the cities of Wellsville and Montgomery City Purple Heart communities.

A Ceremony To Proclaim, which is the name of the event, will start at 2 p.m. at the high school gymnasium. The residents who will be honored are Roy Dooley, Roy Walton, Harry Johnson, Fred Bohl and Tracy Walton.

The ceremony is not open to the public. State representatives, the state commander of the VFW Post and the state commander of the Military Order of the Purple Heart will be in attendance.

“It’s a pretty intimate thing, so we don’t want to expose those veterans who might have some mixed feelings about larger crowds in public to people that may or may not know,” VFW Post 4436 Commander Kayla Gastler said.

The Purple Heart is a military medal awarded in the name of the President of the United States to those wounded or killed during service on or after April 5, 1917.

On Nov. 21, Montgomery County was named a Purple Heart County after the commission signed a proclamation. There are over 100 Purple Heart Counties that are designated in Missouri. In order to receive a Purple Heart, the county must want to honor its citizens who have received the Purple Heart Medal and its veterans.

During a Montgomery City Board of Aldermen meeting in July, the city was proclaimed a Purple Heart City after Mayor Mike Spirz and City Administrator Steve Deves presented a proclamation. Spirz and the Board of Aldermen agreed to purchase the Purple Heart City signs that will be placed on the five city limit signs.

During a county commission meeting on June 30, Gastler – along with VFW Post 3056 Commander Jerry Fischer – shared the news with the county commissioners about the ceremony.

“I started the search to get the county named a purple heart county about six or seven months ago,” Gastler said. “This (the ceremony) all just came about a month ago when I met with the commissioners and told them this is what we’re going to do.”

Dooley and Roy Walton are members of VFW Post 4436, while Johnson is a member of the Johnson and Friends music group. Bohl and Tracy Walton are members of VFW Post 3056.

“We’re excited to be able to recognize these gentlemen and get the county and city signs up and be able to support them in any way we can,” Gastler said.