Special events Saturday and Monday will remember the sacrifice of U.S. service men and women.

County Judge Wayne Brascom will be the speaker at an area-wide Memorial Day program at 10:30 a.m. Monday, May 26 at the Kingsland Community Center.

Memorial Day, a holiday that grew out of the Post-Civil War Decoration Day tradition, commemorates U.S. men and women who have died in military service throughout American history. It will have added significance this year with the Hill Country’s loss of U.S. Army servicemen near Baghdad, Iraq, Sergeant Mark Stone of Buchanan Dam on April 28 and Specialist Jeffrey Nichols of Granite Shoals on May 1.

The Memorial Day event will have followed the dedication at 1:30 p.m. Saturday of a Llano County Courthouse memorial to soldiers felled in the Middle East.

The first name on that memorial is that of Major Thomas G. “Tommy” Bostick Jr. of Llano, killed in Afghanistan on July 27, 2007 and the second will be Sgt. Stone’s.

Both programs are open to the public.

Judge Brascom served six years in the Texas Air National Guard, 149th Tactical Fighter Group Air Police with responsibility for security for tactical fighter jets. He is a member of the Kingsland American Legion Post 437 and the Church at Horseshoe Bay.

He and his wife, Beverly have resided in Llano County since 1979, although he’s been coming here since he was 12 years old, when his parents first bought property in the area in the 1950s.

A 1969 accounting graduate of Southwest Texas University, he worked as auditor for City Public Service Company in San Antonio until 1979 when he became controller for Lake LBJ Improvement Corp. During 24 years there, he also served as the accountant on numerous property owners associations and was vice president of Horseshoe Bay Corp.

He was appointed and then elected to succeed the late Bill Kinney as Llano County Commissioner to Precinct 1 before being elected as county judge in 2006.

Music for the observance will be provided by the Hill Country Community Band, comprised of musicians from the ranks of business and professions, school faculty and students in the area.

The Hill Country Honor Guard (HCHG) is the sponsor of the event.

The HCHG is the only civilian honor guard in Burnet and Llano counties authorized by the Department of Defense to render military funeral honors. In 2008, alone, the group has done so 14 times, including honors for the airfield arrivals home to the Hill Country for Sgt. Stone and Spec. Nichols and burial honors for the former.

The Saturday program will include presentations on the history and meaning of the Pledge of Allegiance and the National Anthem as well as a simulated Battlefield Memorial ceremony honoring all those who made the supreme sacrifice on the theme of “All gave some…some gave all.”

The Kingsland Community Center is located at 3451 Rose Hill Drive, one block south of the Kingsland Community Center marquee on RR 1431.