Photo credit: Justin Fluke

(KNZA)--The proclamation, officially declaring Homer White Week in Hiawatha, has been made.

That happened Wednesday morning at the Brown County Courthouse, where county and city employees, including members of local law enforcement, gathered for the ceremony.

Several members of the Hiawatha Chamber of Commerce, and the business community, were also present, along with members of Hiawatha’s Homer White Legion Post 66.

The post will honor its namesake, along with other veterans, during the week now officially proclaimed in White’s honor, which will run from July 31 through August 3.

Event chairman Bob Sines, of the Legion post, recently told local leaders the legion is working with local civic organizations to put on the event, which will commemorate the 100th anniversary of the death of White during World War I, the 100th anniversary of the end of WWI, and the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the American Legion by Congress.

White, who grew up in the area, served as a motorcycle courier during World War I. He died in February 1919 from injuries received in a motorcycle accident and was buried in Germany.

His body was brought back to Hiawatha, and Sines said the Legion plans to re-enact the August 3, 1919 graveside service held for White in the Hiawatha Cemetery on Saturday, August 3rd. Sines called the original ceremony one of the largest military funerals in Kansas.

The August 3 event will be complete with a procession down Hiawatha's Oregon Street, modeled after the actual procession held in 1919.

Sines said also planned is a World War I remembrance banquet on Friday, August 2, at the Fisher Center, in Hiawatha. The free-will donation banquet will include a short program.

The Legion also plans to hold an outdoor band concert and car show on July 31.

300 to 500 people are expected to attend the week long event.

To read the proclamation, go here.