Porter Alexander Halyburton
Gwinnett County, Gwinnett County, Georgia
Marker Inscription
Blue Star Memorial Highway A tribute to the Armed Forces that have defended the United States of America sponsored by The Garden Club of Georgia, Inc. and Lake Ivanhoe Garden Club of Tucker in cooperation with Georgia Department of Transportation Honoring Lt. Cmdr. Porter Halyburton, U.S. Navy
Erected by Garden Club of Georgia
The Story
This Gwinnett County Blue Star Memorial marker honors Lt. Cmdr. Porter Halyburton, a U.S. Navy flier shot down over North Vietnam who endured years as a prisoner of war. The Blue Star Memorial Highway program, begun by garden clubs in 1945 and named for the service flags of World War II, was often used to recognize individual servicemen alongside the armed forces as a whole. Here the Lake Ivanhoe Garden Club of Tucker joined the Garden Club of Georgia in the dedication.
Why it matters
It ties a nationwide remembrance tradition to the story of a Vietnam POW, giving one veteran's endurance a permanent place on the American roadside.
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Related people
- · Lt. Cmdr. Porter Halyburton, U.S. Navy
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Leon F. "Lee" Ellis
Commerce, GA
This Blue Star Memorial marker near Commerce honors Major Leon F. Ellis, Jr. of the U.S. Air Force, a Vietnam-era airman held as a prisoner of war. The Blue Star Memorial Highway program, launched by garden clubs in 1945 and named for the service flags of World War II, frequently recognized individual local servicemen. Here the Four Season Garden Club of Commerce joined the Garden Club of Georgia in the tribute.
Aviation Tragedy
Gwinnett County, GA
On the evening of December 6, 1953, four F-84 jets of the Georgia Air National Guard's 128th Fighter Bomber Squadron went down near this spot while returning from weekend training and trying to land at Dobbins Air Force Base in bad weather. All the pilots were killed, though no one on the ground was hurt — the family whose home was destroyed happened to be away. Investigators traced the disaster in part to confusion reading the aircraft altimeter, prompting the U.S. Air Force to redesign the instrument.
Birthplace of Bill Arp
Lawrenceville, GA
Charles Henry Smith was born in Lawrenceville in 1826, but Georgia came to know him by his pen name, "Bill Arp." A lawyer and Confederate major, he first used the humorous persona in 1861 and spent more than forty years as one of the South's most beloved newspaper humorists and gentle philosophers. His column ran until his death in 1903, softening hard times with wit.
Gwinnett's Natives
Lawrenceville, GA
Long before Lawrenceville and Gwinnett County took their names from figures of the young United States, this land in the Georgia Piedmont was home to Native peoples—most recently the Muscogee (Creek) and Cherokee, whose villages, trails, and hunting grounds laced the rivers and ridgelines here. This marker sets aside the courthouse-square story to honor those first inhabitants, who knew and cared for this country for countless generations before newcomers arrived. Their presence was written into the landscape itself, in place-names and pathways that outlasted the treaties and removals of the early 1800s.