We Will Remember: A tribute this Memorial Day 2026

Walton County, Ga. Veterans Memorial.

The words of For the Fallen by Laurence Binyon have echoed across generations, spoken in quiet ceremonies and held in hearts that refuse to forget:

They shall grow not old,
as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them,
nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun
and in the morning
We will remember them.

We will remember them.
Lest we forget.

On this Memorial Day 2026, those words feel especially close to home here in Walton County.

This is not just a national holiday marked by flags and ceremonies. It is a day that lives in the hearts of families on our streets, in our churches, and in our neighborhoods. It is a day shaped by names we know, stories we’ve heard, and sacrifices that we pass by every day in our community – memorials at the courthouse, statues in tribute and streets that carry the names of our fallen heroes.

Inside the Monroe Museum, the story of Army Ranger Lt. George B. Nunnally reminds us how long that sacrifice has been part of Walton County’s story. Born and raised in Monroe, Nunnally was one of our own—a young man with a future, a family, and a hometown that would never forget him.

He volunteered for the Army Rangers in 1941, before the world changed on December 7 with the attack on Pearl Harbor attack. He fought bravely, was wounded in North Africa, and returned to the battlefield anyway. On January 30, 1944, in Italy, he gave his life. He was awarded the Purple Heart and the Silver Star, but those honors only begin to tell the story of who he was—and what was lost.

His story is not just history. It is part of us.

And the story did not end there.

Decades later, another name became part of Walton County’s living memory: MSG Mark Allen of Loganville, Georgia.

In 2009, while serving in Afghanistan and searching for missing soldier Bowe Bergdahl, Allen was shot in the head. The injury changed everything—not just for him, but for his wife, his children, and everyone who loved him. For nearly 10 years, they carried a burden most of us can scarcely imagine.

And yet, this community showed up.

In 2011, neighbors lined the streets to welcome him home. They stood shoulder to shoulder, not because they had to—but because that’s what a community does when one of its own has given so much. In 2019, they gathered again, this time in grief, to say goodbye.

Those moments say as much about Walton County as the sacrifices themselves. We remember. We show up. We do not forget.

Memorial Day is often seen as the beginning of summer—a long weekend, a chance to gather. But here, it is something deeper. It is a reminder that the freedoms we enjoy every day were paid for by people who once walked these same streets, sat in these same classrooms, and dreamed the same dreams.

For the families who carry these losses, remembrance is not confined to a single day. It is woven into every day.

So today, as flags are lowered and names are spoken, we pause—not just as individuals, but as a community. We remember Lt. Nunnally. We remember MSG Allen. We remember Sgt. Michael Stokely. We remember 1st Lt Joseph D. Helton Jr. We remember Maj. David Gray. We remember Sgt. Timothy P. Padgett. We remember all those, known and unknown, who gave everything.

And we hold their families a little closer in our hearts.

A poem by Michael Burch captures what words alone often cannot:

Sound the awesome cannons.
Pin medals to each breast.
Attention, honor guard!
Give them a hero’s rest.

Recite their names to the heavens
Till the stars recognize their kin.
Then let the land they defended
Gather them in again.

Walton County will always remember them.