Monday, May 28, beginning at 10 a.m. the City will host its annual Memorial Day Services to remember our Military Heroes who fought for the freedom of our country. The event will be held at the Veterans Memorial Monument which stands in front of Opelika’s City Hall, located at 204 South 7th Street in downtown Opelika.
This year’s special guest speaker is Jamie Popwell, Marine Veteran and founder of Flags for Vets. Flags for Vets is a non-profit corporation that honors veterans for their service by donating a flagpole and flag as a show of thanks.
Popwell spent many years overseas and managed contracts at the Program level in the Balkans, Middle East, and Africa. He has served on contracts Outside the Continental US (OCONUS) in Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2013 he deployed to Kabul, Afghanistan as the Project Manager for International Development Solutions (IDS) on the DoS Worldwide Protective Service (WPS) contract (Task Order 9) until January of 2015. Prior to this, he was employed by DynCorp International as their Project Manager for the DoS WPS contract (Task Order 8) in Erbil, Iraq from 2011-12.
His expertise lies in overseeing all operational and administrative aspects of a contract. Popwell has also managed from CONUS positions. While employed with DynCorp International LLC, he supported the International Narcotics and Law Enforcement missions/contracts to Haiti, Israel, Sudan and Liberia (2008-2010).
Popwell previously worked in law enforcement for 16 year as a police officer, SWAT and narcotics investigator in both Opelika and Auburn. Prior to his career in law enforcement, Popwell served in the U.S. Marines from 1982-88 where he was stationed at the Marine Barracks 8th and I, the Pentagon and Camp David. He is a 1992 Graduate of Auburn University with a BS in Criminal Justice.
Popwell is married to Dina. They have three children and three grandchildren.
Following the Memorial Day services, the Museum of East Alabama will host a reception for the public so that folks can view the extraordinary memorabilia of Opelika’s history. We hope you will join us this Memorial Day morning as we pay tribute to those Military heroes who paid the ultimate price in the various wars America has fought, as well as the Veterans who remain among us - military heroes who have helped to keep America FREE!
In case of rain, the 10 a.m. services will be moved inside City Hall into the City Council Chambers.