Memorial dedicated to fallen Marine on Wilkes County courthouse lawn

Family and friends of Phil Scarborough applaud as the memorial to the Wilkes County Marine is unveiled in ceremonies Friday morning.

Family, friends, fellow Marines, and scores of neighbors gathered in a solemn ceremony Friday morning to dedicate a memorial to Marine Lance Corporal Michael Philip Scarborough at the Wilkes County Court House.

The dedication was set for the Marine Corps 231st birthday, organizer Michael Horgan said, and comes soon after the second anniversary of LCpl. Scarborough's combat death in Iraq.

The memorial, carved from Oglethorpe County blue granite, has been engraved with the poem, "Freedom," by Dr. David T. Kirk. Kirk read the poem aloud during the ceremony.

Event co-chairmen Blake Thomp- son, Horgan, and Marine First Sergeant Albert Diaz spoke briefly after the unveiling of the memorial. "Everybody shares the freedom," Horgan said, "but few pay the cost."

Diaz, who accompanied the Marine's body home for burial, said that "Scarborough died doing something that he loved, and it's good for kids to see why we fight, and why we serve." Members of the Washington-

Wilkes High School band performed the Marine Corps Hymn as those gathered sang along.

Karen Stubbs of the Iris Garden Club announced that a Mt. Vernon red maple tree would be planted in Scarborough's honor in Washington's Memorial Park. Sandy Burton read a poem, "The Veteran."

The brief ceremony ended as it had begun, in prayer.

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