Veterans Day celebrated with historic marker dedication and parade
The new historical marker is located on the Square in Lexington at 3 N. Main St. {Photo: Vikki Broughton Hodges/Davidson Local}
A large crowd gathered on the Square in uptown Lexington Saturday afternoon to honor the late Lt. Gen. Robert Frederick “Bob” Sink, a highly decorated military commander and native son, with the dedication of a new N.C. Highway Historical Marker.
“On this Veterans Day, we not only honor him but all veterans,” said Steve Smith, nephew-in-law to Sink, during the ceremony. “It’s fitting that 69 years ago, on this very spot, on Nov. 11, 1954, General Sink spoke on this Square.”
The marker is adjacent to the war monuments at 3 N. Main St. Sink was previously honored by having the National Guard Armory on Ninth Ave named after him.
Sink commanded the U.S. Army 506th Parachute Infantry of the 101st Airborne Division at Normandy on D-Day and at Bastogne during the Battle of the Bulge during World War II. His unit liberated a German concentration camp and was instrumental in the capture of Adolf Hitler’s mountaintop retreat, Eagle’s Nest, near the end of the war.
Sink’s military career is chronicled in Stephen Ambrose’s book, “Band of Brothers: E Company, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne from Normandy to Hitler’s Eagle’s Nest,” which was made into the hit HBO miniseries “Band of Brothers.”
“Bob was a Lexington boy first and foremost,” said Robin Sink McClelland, Sink’s daughter, who noted he was the son of Mrs. Fred O. Sink, who lived on E Center St where the CVS is currently located. “My grandmother would have been so proud today. And my father would have loved to know his service was honored on this day.”
Ted Philpott, one of Sink’s nephews, said his uncle never lost touch with his roots in the Lexington community and returned home often between assignments — one time arriving in a helicopter on the playground of the former Cecil School next to his mother’s house.
Philpott recalled visiting his uncle at Fort Bragg (now Liberty) with the local National Guard unit when Sink was the base commander in the late 1950s. “He always wanted to be notified when the hometown boys were on base,” he said. “I can tell you cards were shuffled and spirits were flowing.”
Philpott said Sink was not one to talk about his military exploits. “The members of the Greatest Generation lived with humility and gratitude for their country.”
Dr. Lee Jessup, whose father was a tail gunner and prisoner of war in World War II, led the marker dedication and presented Sink’s daughter and nephew-in-law with a cigarette box his father had carved while a POW.
Dr. Lee Jessup (left) presents a gift to Robin Sink McClelland and Steve Smith at a ceremony on the Square in uptown Lexington on Veterans Day to dedicate a new N.C. Highway Historical Marker to honor the late Lt. Gen. Robert Frederick “Bob” Sink, a Lexington native and highly decorated military leader. (Vikki Broughton Hodges/Davidson Local)
“The way I look at it, he [Sink] came to rescue my father.”
Earlier in the day on Nov 11, hundreds of people lined Main Street to watch the annual Veterans Day parade. While many spectators come every year to cheer on veterans organizations and their selected queens as well as high school ROTC units and marching bands, three folks at the event were first-time attendees — and they appreciated the spectacle.
“I love it — this is great,” said Dyasia Napper-Morrison of Lexington, whose late father and stepfather were both veterans. She shot video on her phone and stashed candy thrown by the queens in her pockets for her seven-year-old daughter, Gabryela Moore.
“I love the music — the bands are a real highlight,” said her friend, Alexus Brown of Albemarle. She shared her grandfather was a veteran.
But the grand marshal of the Veterans Day parade, Woody Bowman, is no stranger to the annual event.
Bowman has been involved in the planning of the parade for more than 30 years as a member of Amvets Post 13 and the American Legion Post 8, as well as the commander of the Davidson County Veterans Council. He created the Davidson County Veterans Honor Guard in 2010 to provide burial rites for veterans.
Woody Bowman, grand marshal of the local Veterans Day parade, waves to the crowd that lined Main Street in Lexington on Saturday. {Photo Credit: Vikki Broughton Hodges/Davidson Local}
While he was the commander of the veterans council, Bowman led the charge to have the newly built bridge over the Yadkin River between Davidson and Rowan counties named the Yadkin River Veterans Memorial Bridge. He spearheaded the effort to have Blue Star Memorial Highway markers installed at the northbound and southbound rest stops on Interstate 85 in Davidson County.
