Smith County Veterans Service Office to Hold Open House

TYLER — The Smith County Veterans Service Office is hosting media tours and an open house of its newly decorated facility at 210 E. Ferguson on Tuesday, April 14. Veterans Service Officer Michael Roark and Assistant Veterans Service Officers Andrea Odom and Colt Webb are hosting media tours from 1:30-2:30 p.m. and are inviting the public for an open house until 4 p.m. Formerly housed in the Cotton Belt Building, the Veterans Service Office moved to its current location in April 2013.

Roark has recently decorated the building. In the “Hall of Honor,” he has hung flags and donated combat uniform tops from every branch of the military, as well as framed copies of citations for the oldest living recipients of the Medal of Honor “to honor people who serve,” he said. He also built a memorial at the end of the hall “to honor those who have made the ultimate sacrifice.” There is a display cabinet for which Roark is asking veterans to loan mementos from their military service to display so others can see it. It has turned into a “group shadow box,” he said.

Roark says he is excited about the new look. “I’d like for the public to come take a look at it, see what we do and meet us,” he said. The offices are open from 8 a.m. to noon and 1-4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. They stop taking walk-ins at 4 p.m. and on Fridays, only accept appointments 1-4:30 p.m.