2020 Memorial Day Tribute

The City of Alpharetta and the Rotary Club of Alpharetta will host the 6^th Annual Memorial Day Tribute on Monday, May 25, 2020.  The music begins at 9:00 a.m. and the program begins at 9:30 a.m. at Alpharetta City Hall, located at 2 Park Plaza.  The event is free for the public to attend.

Mayor Jim Gilvin said, “Every year our community comes together to honor the heroes who gave their lives to protect this great nation and the freedoms we all enjoy. This year I hope everyone can join us for this very special tribute.”

The Memorial Day Tribute will start off with music by the Alpharetta City Band at 9 a.m.  The program begins at 9:30 a.m. which will include: Invocation, Posting of Colors, Pledge of Allegiance, National Anthem, Keynote Speaker, Laying of the Wreath, Rifle Salute, and “Taps”.  The National Anthem will be sung by Alpharetta High students, the keynote speech will be given by former U.S. Army Ranger Grant McGarry, and “Taps” will be played by FSU freshman, Nick Amundsen.

The esteemed keynote speaker, Grant McGarry, is a former U.S. Army Ranger, best-selling author of A Night in the Pech Valley and a combat veteran with five deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan in the War on Terror.  Upon graduation in 2006 from the University of Alabama with a degree in finance, Grant reported to Fort Benning with an enlistment contract “for the hardest thing the Army has to offer.”

After graduating from the Ranger Indoctrination Program, Grant was assigned to the 1^st Ranger Battalion of the 75^th Ranger Regiment in Savannah, GA.  While serving as an Army Ranger, Grant held several positions and leadership assignments, from rifleman to machine gun team leader, and both squad Alpha and Bravo Team leader. Between deployments, Sergeant McGarry graduated from the U.S. Army Ranger School and was awarded the coveted Ranger Tab.  On his fifth and last deployment to Afghanistan in 2010, while leading the primary assault team for the number three most wanted High Value Target, Sergeant McGarry and his squad were involved in a vicious firefight with enemy forces in the Pech Valley.  As a consequence of his actions during the battle that eliminated the number three HVT, Sergeant McGarry was awarded the Bronze Star with “Valor” Device.

Following the completion of his enlistment in 2011, Grant was a security contractor at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, during and after the withdrawal of coalition forces.  Upon Grant’s return to the U.S. in 2012, he worked at The Coca-Cola Company, co-founded The Darby Project (a veteran services non-profit organization), started LTRC-Ops, Inc., and earned an MBA from Emory University’s Goizueta Business School. Most importantly, Grant and his wife Karin have two boys, Gunnar and Gage.

Chairman of this event, William Perkins said, “Memorial Day is a time to reflect and remember those soldiers that have laid down their lives for our freedom.  We come together as a community to pay tribute and honor their sacrifice. The values that we hold so dearly have been made possible by the men and women of our military.”