Remembering those who served; D-Day observance held at Price Freedom Museum
Published 12:00 am Saturday, June 14, 2025
Karen Kistler
karen.kistler@salisburypost.com
CHINA GROVE — “Remember” was one word that rang out during the D-Day Remembrance Ceremony at the Price of Freedom Museum.
The special event, commemorating that day in history, was held June 7 at the museum, 2420 Weaver Road, China Grove, with a ceremony beginning at 10 a.m. followed by tours of the museum and a fundraiser lunch.
Steve Stroud, a trustee of the museum, served as the emcee for the ceremony and while he said he was a little disappointed in the crowd, which he noted has been down since COVID, he added, “I’m proud you all are here.”
Sharing a little history of the museum for those who were visiting for the first time, Stroud said it began as the result of a vision of the late Bobby Mault, who ran the Mault Brothers Texaco on Hwy. 152/153. The youngest of five boys, he said that Bobby was the youngest and it was Stroud’s personal opinion that because he was too young to serve in the military like his brothers did, he started it “to honor those brothers as well as all the servicemen that served over the years.”
Initially beginning in his service station with people bringing items to display, Mault had a vision to have a museum, and in 2004 he got a contract with the school system to lease the old Patterson School, which was remodeled and now serves as the military museum.
“A lot of history is in this building,” said Stroud. “We’re trying to protect it” and mentioned the effort to get the attic insulated so they could maintain the temperature and protect the artifacts inside.
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He said they were about $11,000 into a $15,000 fundraiser and were selling hot dogs and hamburgers during the day to help toward that goal.
The ceremony continued with Stroud giving an opening prayer followed by the singing of the national anthem by Madison McCorkle, who serves with the Salisbury Department and her father Jeff McCorkle who accompanied her on guitar.
Madison said that she was just a very small part of the day, but being able to “be out here to witness the things that they’ve put together to honor these people and their sacrifices means a lot to me,” adding that the ceremony is “a very reverent, very honorable thing that they’re doing and to be just a small piece of it means a lot.”
The next speaker was Bobby Harrison who serves as president of the board of trustees. He addressed the crowd and said with emotion that “I guess I kind of inherited the museum after Mr. Mault passed away. I promised him I would keep it going.”
He later shared that being able to carry on this legacy is a “tremendous responsibility because there is so much history here in this building.”
Harrison said he first began to help Mault in 2006 and has had a lifelong interest in history.
“I wanted to go into the military but in the ’70s when I got out of high school,” he said, is when we were getting out of Vietnam. Therefore, he went into law enforcement, serving 31 years in Salisbury. It was after he retired that he got heavily involved in helping Mault there, he said.
“It’s an honor to continue on,” said Harrison, adding that there is a good board that helps him.
Coming to the podium next was Don Shupe who shared what D-Day is about providing both an overview and a personal story of one of the 10 individuals who earned a medal of honor on D-Day.
Shupe said that June 6, 1944, was the largest amphibious invasion in history.
“We were invading northern France to begin the liberation of Europe,” and the planning for this began in April 1942, months before the U.S. entered World War II, and by the end of June 1944, more than “nine million tons of supplies had been brought over to England from the United States. We were looking at 11,000 aircraft, 7,000 ships and 153,000 men would be transported across the English Channel to land on the beaches in Normandy, France.”
Many young men ages 18-20 were away from home for the first time, sailing across the English Channel, he said, as he told the crowd that “five miles off the beaches, they had to climb down rope ladders to get in the landing craft. Now they had a five-mile journey in a 32-foot boat in rough seas. By the time they got to the beaches, they were soaking wet from the spray coming over the front of the landing craft. They were seasick from bobbing up and down and believe me, they were scared to death because they knew what was waiting for them on the beaches.”
There were more than 10,000 casualties on D-Day he said with 2,000 alone on Omaha Beach.
The story of one of the medal of honor winners was John J. Pender who was with the 1st Infantry Division, 16th Infantry Regiment.
Pender, a technician fifth grade, received his medal of honor for going above and beyond. The citation noted that he had landed on the coast 100 yards offshore under heavy fire. He was struggling to shore in waist deep water, carrying a very important radio when he was hit by enemy fire and was severely wounded.
Pender didn’t stop to take cover or seek medical aid, but continued doing his duty making sure the radio was delivered. Weak from the loss of blood and in pain, Pender “on three occasions went back into the fire, swept the surf to salvage communication equipment. He recovered many vital parts and equipment including another workable radio.”
He was hit with machine gun fire in the legs and then a third time and was killed.
“The indomitable courage and personal bravery of Technician 5th Grade Pender was magnificent inspiration to the men with whom he served,” said Shupe.
He said there are many instances of courage like this story that took place on D-Day.
“It was just unbelievable the sacrifices that these soldiers made, and we just need to remember what June 6 means,” said Shupe. “It just overwhelms me what these soldiers went through and what they were willing to do to liberate Europe.”
The final speaker during the ceremony was Rowan County Sheriff Travis Allen who spoke about the importance of “What’s in a Name.”
He said that our names are the most valuable things we have, receiving our name when we’re born and it’s what’s on our tombstone when we die.
“The Bible tells us that a good name is rather to be chosen than great riches,” quoted Allen, as he spoke about Omaha Beach and all the names of those that stormed it, noting that it was “the most dangerous place on D-Day.”
Of the casualties that took place, Allen said that 39 of those deaths on Omaha were North Carolinians and one, Private Warren S. Smith, was from Rowan County.
Over the course of World War II, Allen said, 8,500 North Carolinians died in the European Theatre alone and stressed the importance of remembering those names.
“That’s what’s so great about the Price of Freedom Museum is that life comes and goes, generations come and go, but we have to remember these names,” he said. “Somebody has to tell the story and that’s exactly what the Price of Freedom Museum does.”
Allen shared a Bible verse that says “life is a vapor that appears for a short time and it vanishes away,” relating this to what should be done for all of the veterans.
“Make sure that their name is like that vapor, whether it’s gone but it’s still remembered” and observed, reminding everyone to not forget those that served and gave their lives for their country.
WWII paratrooper reenactor Larry Johnson was at the event and took the opportunity to speak with museum visitors, telling that he goes to events such as this “to try to educate people” adding that people don’t realize all of the sacrifices that have been made and said he doesn’t want people to forget.
Johnson pointed out his uniform and said he dresses in original GI issued items and things paratroopers would have had with them including his boots, canteen, knife even down to the netting on his helmet explaining some differences. He said if the netting was a quarter of an inch, a paratrooper knew that person was from the 82nd Airborne and if it was a half inch then they were from the 101st Airborne.
In speaking of his being a reenactor, Johnson said, “this is my passion,” said Johnson, noting he has been involved in it for more than 15 years.
Attendees went inside to stroll through the museum seeing the many uniforms and other memorabilia in the hallways and classrooms.
Many paintings by artist John Hartley could be seen along with photographs by Joel Honeycutt, who said he started coming to the museum at various events and was introduced to Mault and started volunteering. He began bringing some of his photography from air shows and Mault asked him to keep bringing more.
Visitors Marge and Tim Mahanna of Tuscon, Arizona, were in town visiting family LuAnn and Butch Grambow and they decided to come to the ceremony and see the museum.
Marge said they love military museums and patriotic activities, and since both husbands are veterans, they knew they would enjoy it.
“This is way beyond anything I would have expected. It’s inspiring,” said Marge.
LuAnn noted that they live nearby and know the Harrison’s and come to everything they can to support the museum.
Having visited many military museums in other locations, Tim Mahanna said, “from a military perspective, this is one of the nicest places I’ve ever been. This is a local thing, it’s powerful, it gets your heart stirring.”
