LYNCHBURG, Va. – The Monument Terrace Troop Rally honored Lynchburg veterans again on Friday.
Roy Farrar planned to celebrate with his father, Tuskeegee Airman Alfred Farrar, for his 100th birthday.
“I kept telling him that he had a date on the 25th, and that we would bundle him up good and snug so we could come out,” Roy said.
The elder Farrar didn’t live to see the ceremony.
He died a week ago, so Steve Bozeman and the Lynchburg Veterans Council transformed the troop rally into a memorial service.
[Group observes Veterans Day at Lynchburg’s Monument Terrace]
“He was quite a groundbreaking hero back in the day, and he still is,” said Steve Bozeman of the Lynchburg Area Veterans Council.
It was a moment that surely surprised the Farrar family.
“We came down the stairs and realized there were so many people. Each step we took, we saw more people,” said Roy.
The younger Farrar said he’s proud that his father paved the way for the generations of pilots after him.
During the ceremony, Bozeman surprised Roy when he announced he would keep his dad’s memory alive with some paving of his own.
“We’re going to get a brick for your father. As long as Monument Terrace stands, those bricks will be over there,” he said.
Alfred Farrar may not have lived to see Lynchburg give him the ultimate tribute in person, but his son believes the airman saw it from up above.
“I feel like he’s flying over. It’s an honor to be his son and to carry that legacy forward,” he said.