Page 17 - Focus Carlsbad Summer 2019

Giving Back

with the

Honor Guard

By M.C. Smith

CARLSBAD NATIVE SAM PLUMLEE

GREW UP HEARING STORIES FROM

BATAAN DEATH MARCH SURVIVORS.

HE APPRECIATED AND RESPECTED

THEIR STORIES. "I WAS RIGHT THERE

AT VIETNAM, SO MANY OF THOSE

PEOPLE, FRIENDS OF MINE AND OTHER

RELATIVES THAT WENT TO VIETNAM

AND THEY NEVER CAME BACK THE

SAME," HE SAID. Sam Plumlee, treasurer of the Carlsbad Veterans

Honor Guard, stands with the New Mexico flag
during a Memorial Day Ceremony in Carlsbad.

Sam, a U.S. Navy veteran, is the treasurer of the Carlsbad
Veterans Honor Guard. He joined the Honor Guard three
years ago and said Carlsbad has had a long military history.
"Especially the National Guard, they've been called out and
they go and they serve their country in any capacity, they
weren't necessarily drafted. They went and they just joined
and they wanted to do something for our country," he said.
"We have a wonderful community here."

Plumlee and others in the Honor Guard paid tribute
to Carlsbad residents who made the ultimate sacrifice
during a Memorial Day ceremony at Carlsbad Veteran's
Park May 27. "It just makes me so grateful to be able to
do this. To have this many people to come out and to
have this ceremony and this presentation. I'm touched
from the beginning to the last. From the minute the

SPRING 2019 | FOCUS ON CARLSBAD 17