Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 6, 1993 TAG: 9306040145
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-10 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WYTHEVILLE LENGTH: Medium
The town had already decided to convert Withers Field, its athletic field, into a park.
Bralley broached the idea of a Wall of Honor to Jack W. Hunley, another Town Council member.
Businesses, civic organizations and individuals contributed almost $37,000 toward the project and Assistant Town Manager Steve Moore designed it.
"I think the most significant thing about that is we live in a community that cares," said Hunley.
For Bralley, the genesis of the idea went back even farther: It was when he was a boy playing Little League ball at what was then Withers Field.
Bralley, who was among the speakers at the Wall of Honor dedication last week, noted that the speakers' platform - which was near the military parts of the monuments - was almost exactly where home plate used to be before the athletic field became Withers Park.
He told of an umpire named Larry Collins who would hide his glove or some other piece of equipment from him at a crucial time and then tell young Bralley, "Come on, you're holding up the game," before giving him the glove or whatever that Bralley was looking for with increasing desperation.
This same Larry Collins took an interest in Bralley while Bralley was growing up, spending time talking with him, showing him a new car and in other ways.
While Bralley was a student at George Wythe High School the announcement came over the public address system that Collins had been killed in Vietnam.
Now Collins' name is on one of the monuments listing those from Wytheville and Wythe County who gave their lives in World War I, World War II, Korea or Vietnam.
"I want to say to Larry and to the other men, `Our town and county has not forgotten you,' " Bralley said.
"I want you to know that we're meeting again at home plate."
***CORRECTION***
Published correction ran on Wednesday, June 9, 1993
Because of copy-editing errors, Thomas Bralley's position in Wytheville town government was reported incorrectly in a headline and picture caption in Sunday's New River Current. Bralley is the town's vice mayor, as the story reported.
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Memo: ***CORRECTION***