On a cold, December evening in 1951, a train carrying the body of Pvt. Billie Gene Kanell arrived in Poplar Bluff. The 20-year-old had been killed in Korea after sacrificing his body to protect nearby soldiers.
Nine months later, Kanell was posthumously awarded the U.S. military's highest decoration, the Medal of Honor.
His sister, Betty Pruitt, spoke Monday during the Memorial Day Ceremony hosted by the Veterans of Foreign Wars Memorial Post 6477.
Standing in front of the Veterans' Memorial Wall at the Black River Coliseum, Pruitt began by telling of the devastation caused by the 1929 tornado, which, she explained, led to the creation of Thirteenth Street's Vinegar Hill Quilters. The ladies, she said, later showed true dedication to the families whose sons served in the military.
"Thirteenth Street used to be known as Vinegar Hill," Pruitt told the attendees.
"After the (tornado) passed, the ladies in the neighborhood got out to find what they could to use for bedding, children's clothing, whatever was damaged or could be used," Pruitt said. "All the homes had been either damaged or destroyed. Everything was for lost. That night, the ladies sat down and started the Vinegar Hill Quilters."
By the 1950s, she said, the ladies society turned their labors of love to making Blue Star Banners for the families whose sons were fighting in the war. It was a tradition to display a Blue Star for each son a home was missing to the war, up to five, Pruitt said.
Of the 29 families on Vinegar Hill with sons, Pruitt said, families whose sons had either been drafted or voluntarily joined the service reached 27.
"Now the Vinegar Hill Quilters were making Blue Star Banners," she said. "They didn't necessarily follow the protocol for making their banners. Each banner was just kind of what came from their mind."
Pruitt said initially, her parents banner had two Blue Stars on their banner, but the number eventually grew to four. On March 21, 1951, her brother Billie Gene left Vinegar Hill for training in Hawaii. She said the last picture of Kanell was taken July 2, 1951. Just over a month later, on Aug. 6, 1951, he arrived in Japan, she said.
"Billy was killed just 17 days later," Pruitt said. "It was a cold, rainy and horrible night from what the fellows who corresponded with mother and daddy told us later."
Three months to the day after his death, his body arrived in Poplar Bluff, she said, "The depot platform was full."
"It was very cold that evening, but a light snow had stopped. Billy's service was on Sunday, December the ninth," Pruitt said.
After the service, Kanell's parents were presented with the official Gold Star Banner. Once a loved one died in the service, Blue Stars were replaced with Gold. Pruitt said it was the first Gold Star Banner she remembers seeing.
"Because of his sacrifice, my sister Faye, my sister Wanda and I wear our gold star pin with such pride," she said.
U.S. Navy Ret. Commander John Holland said this year's Memorial Day Ceremony served as a reminder of the Blue and Gold Stars and what they meant to the families.
"Unfortunately, or fortunately maybe, the Blue Star and the Gold Star have lost a lot of significance over the years, but I remember the ending of World War II when Blue Stars and Gold Stars were in windows if you had somebody serving in the military," Holland said.
Other speakers featured in the ceremony were Col. Patricia Hall, director of the John J. Pershing VA Medical Center and Dan Self of the American Legion Post 153.
Hall touched on a variety of topics, including veteran suicide rates. Self led the Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Remembrance.