On Saturday, Nov. 11, the Silverhill Veterans Memorial Organization will host a Veterans Day ceremony. They will be honoring World War II veteran Grace Edhegard Smith.

The Edhegard family moved to Silverhill in 1926. Grace Esther was the oldest of eight children. She graduated from Robertsdale High School at the age of 16 and then Birmingham School of Nursing. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States Army expanded the Women's Army Corps, and she immediately joined. She was commissioned a 2nd lieutenant and ordered to the North African theatre of World War II where she served for nearly three years. Following her discharge from the Army, she married SSgt. Simeon Smith, a medical technician she had first met in Eritrea. He would eventually become Warrant Officer Smith and would serve 32 years in the U.S. Army. After his retirement from the Army in 1971, the Smiths moved home to Silverhill. Grace went on to work until her retirement from the Baldwin County Mental Health Department as a psychiatric nurse. Always a student, she continued taking college courses and traveling abroad; however, her heart would always be in Silverhill, her home.

A full Veterans Day ceremony will be presented. Service will begin at 10 a.m. The memorial is located on the corner of Highway 104 and County Road 55. Please bring your own chair.