Lawrence Henry Retires from U.S. Army

Thursday, July 9, 2015

At Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri, SFC Lawrence R. Henry took part in a retirement ceremony after 26 years of service, most of it served in a U.S. Army Band. Fifteen soldiers were honored at the ceremony attended by many friends and family.

Each soldier was presented with a framed plaque, and an American flag, as well as one more ribbon and the wives each received a framed Certificate of Recognition along with a long stemmed red rose.

The band played for the event and after a couple of speeches, they gave rousing renditions of "Old Soldiers Never Die", "Auld Lang Syne" and "The Army Song". Those of us in the audience who knew the words sang along.

Doug and I flew from El Paso, Texas to St. Louis, Missouri where we rented a car and drove to Dixon, Missouri where Larry and wife, Nona, make their home. It rained every day until the day we left, but it came and went in spurts so we had a lovely visit in their Victorian home which they are redoing. Members of the band came over afterwards for food and drink to celebrate the occasion.

Official pictures were taken during the ceremony, but Larry hasn't received these as yet, so I am going ahead with this report and will add the photo when it arrives.

L to R: Carla, Nona and Larry in living room

Larry and his mother (Carla) before the ceremony

L to R: Mom (Carla), Larry and wife, Nona

You can tell Doug is the photographer, right?

Larry with his band in the background

And the band plays on

They presented slide shows of each retiree and this is a shot from Larry's

The Retirement Ceremony has started

Another retiree with his lovely family

Nona and Larry

It is quite nice that they appreciate the spouses

It's official. Larry is now a civilian

Preparing the food before the band arrives to celebrate

Carla and Nona hard at work

This tells the story of each assignment over his 26 years, presented by the U.S. Army

Larry showing off the foreign, antique military officers hats gifted to him by his brother Russ Cromwell

A couple of the guests from the band

Larry, explaining some of the antiques on the floor to ceiling bookcase in the living room

A shot of their fabulous Victorian manse, a labor of love to restore

Nona visiting with her mother, Nona Sr., who lives with them

One last shot of Mom with her baby boy!

We are so happy we were able to share this wonderful occasion with Larry and Nona. Now, it's more college classes for him and continuous remodeling of this fabulous old manse. Congratulations, Larry. We are very proud of your service.

Thanks to Douglas A. Kerr, Photographer, for the fine photos.

This is all I have to say for now.