SEDLEY— The annual Fourth of July veterans memorial service sponsored by the GFWC Sedley Woman’s Club had special significance this year.

Four Sedley servicemen who lost their lives during wartime were honored for bravery by the families of two long-time Sedley residents.

Margaret Simms and E. B. Gale, their children and grandchildren, honored the four with a monetary donation and each of the slain men with an engraved plaque, which will be displayed in the Sedley Firehouse.

The memorial dedication was made during the hour-long service at the Sedley Baptist Church, at which more than 100 veterans and their families attended.

Simms’ son, Richard, spoke on behalf of his group.

&uot;My mother has been talking about doing this for several years,&uot; he said.

&uot;She knew all of the servicemen who were killed, the last being Jayton Patterson, our closest neighbor who was killed in 2005.

&uot;We all just wanted to be sure they were not forgotten.&uot;

In addition to Patterson, a Marine, who was killed during Operation Iraqi Freedom, those honored were PFC Winder Lane

Close, killed in 1945 during WWII in Germany, PFC Wallace Ellsworth, killed in 1945 during WWII

in Germany and PFC Carlton R. Wills, killed in 1951 during the Korean Conflict.

All of the servicemen except Close are buried in Sedley’s Rosemont Cemetery.

Killed in Germany, he was buried in the Netherlands.

The service, which included patriotic music and recognition of those attending from each branch of military service, by Retired Marine, Paul (Gunny) Mason of Ivor.

Members of the Simms family attending the service were, Margaret, her son Richard and daughter Margaret Hedrick, and grandchildren Nathal Hedrick and Chris Simms. E.B. Gale, who was married to Simms’ sister, Sarah Burkett, and their son, Perry, were absent.