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Lake City, Florida: A Sesquicentennial Tribute (2009) H. Morris Williams, Dr. Kevin M. McCarthy

Chapter Seventeen: 1970 - 1979

Vietnam War
The Vietnam War, which lasted through the 1960s until 1975,
saw a number of local citizens serve in the Armed Forces. The Viet-
nam Memorial in Olustee Park downtown lists the 23 local soldiers
who died or are missing (M.I.A.) in that war - listed here alphabeti-
cally: William T. Allen, John R. Bregler, Johnnie Carter Jr.,
John Clark (M.I.A. - see p. 286), Leonard Ford, Eugene L.
Freeman Jr., Jimmy R. Garbett (M.I.A.), Rodney C. Harris,

Thomas L. Hubbard, Larry Johnson, Raymond E. Johnson (CHS
Student Council President in 1951 - 1952), Julius F. Jones, Bruce
A. McCormick, Eugene McCray, Frank McCray Jr., Melvin
L. Mize, William Pate, Ronald W. Pharis, James Herbert
Rehberg, Luther M. Sexton Jr., Gilbert Smith Jr., Arthur W.
Thomas, and Ray F. Williams.
The story behind the placement of the name of Johnnie
Carter Jr. above the right-hand column (see photo of monument
below with the separate brick at the top) with arrow is this: when the
monument makers first listed the names of the soldiers, they realized
that Johnnie Carter’s name, through an oversight, had been omitted,
so they, lacking the needed space on the front, put his name on the
back of the monument. When a concerned citizen saw this, he pointed
out that Johnnie had given his life for his country like the others and
should have his name on the front. Accordingly, Johnnie’s name was
added to the front where it belongs.

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