CONFEDERATE FLAG MEMORIAL PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS LEE-JACKSON BANQUET

Mike Jones, left, outgoing commander of Camp 1390,
Texas Div. Cmdr. Granvel Block and Camp 1390 Cmdr.
Archie Toombs. at the Lee-Jackson Banquet.



          Granvel Block, Sons of Confederate Veterans Texas Division Commander, told members of the Captain James  W. Bryan Camp 1390, SCV, at the Lee-Jackson Banquet that the planed Confederate Flag Memorial Project on Interstate 10 in Orange, Texas will display over 30 Confederate Flags in spectacular fashion.
         The banquet was  held Saturday, January 21, in honor of General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson and General Robert E. Lee, at Pat's of Henderson Restaurant in Lake Charles, Louisiana. Jackson was born January 21, 1824 in Clarksburg, Virginia (now West Virginia) and Lee on  January 19, 1807, at Stratford, Virginia.
          Block said the Flag Memorial will be located at a prime location on Interstate 10 in Orange, which is located on the border with Louisiana near Lake Charles. It will be a colorful and spectacular display with the flags, ornate pillars and educational plaques about the the flags.
          The Texas Division commander said the  property  has been paid for, is privately owned and is now the property of  the Sons of Confederate Veterans, a 30,000 member international organization headquartered in Columbia, Tennessee and with camps all over the United States and a number of foreign nations. SCV is a history and heritage organization whose members are descendants of Confederate soldiers, sailors and government officials.
         Block also told the story of "The Little Dixie Bell," which was a paper making machine that made paper for the Confederate government in Atlanta, Georgia during the War Between the States. After the war the machine was used by private paper mills in Georgia, Florida and finally Orange,  Texas. He said the  machine was destroyed in a fire in Orange in the 1990s but relics of  the "Little Dixie Bell" have been salvaged and he hopes one day can be displayed in a museum.
         Also at the banquet the 2012 officers and a new member were installed. Tributes were paid to Lee and Jackson and to  the Confederate veteran ancestor of the members.