Fellow veterans and others from across the region packed the Laurel Train Depot Thursday night to pay their respects to a local hero, James Arnold Flowers.

Flowers, a survivor of the Bataan Death March during World War II, was honored with the naming of the James Arnold Flowers Memorial Highway, a segment of U.S. Highway 184 one-half mile east of I-59.

Upon receiving the honor, Flowers said he was “just a survivor.” He noted that his persecution at the hands of the Japanese soldiers was bad, but “losing my precious wife was even worse.”

Flowers’ family including children, Janice Boykin, Beverly Evans, Terry Flowers and Candace Evans, were on hand for the event. Boykin, who helped get the highway named in her father’s honor, called Flowers “our hero.”

Flowers, who was born Dec. 15, 1921, in Laurel, attended local schools in Jones County until the spring of 1941. During his senior year, he was diagnosed with hepatitis and severely injured his ankle, preventing him from graduating. However, on May 22, 2001, he received his high school diploma from Northeast Jones High School and was recognized with other veterans.

Flowers joined the U.S. Army Air Corps in June 1941, and was assigned to the 745th Aviation Ordinances of the 27th Bomb Group. He was stationed at Clark Field in the Philippines, which was attacked the same day as Pearl Harbor. In April 1942, he was captured in Bataan and ordered to march to Camp O’Donnell in what has been called the Bataan Death March.

Flowers was kept at Cabanatuan until August 1944, and rescued from the Hanawa POW Camp on Sept. 14, 1945 after having been there a year. He didn’t return home until Nov. 10, 1945, more than three and a half years after being captured. Flowers returned to the Pine Belt on July 6, 1946, and married the late Mary Frances Ingram on Dec. 14, 1946.

Throughout the night, officials including State Rep. Gary Staples, State Sen. Tom King and Commander Haskell Smith of the American Legion Post 11 in Laurel praised Flowers’ heroism and bravery during the war.

State Sen. Chris McDaniel (R-Laurel) said he wanted to express thanks to Flowers and other veterans before it was too late.

“I want to tell you how much we love and appreciate you,” McDaniel said. “You deserve this.”

McDaniel noted that it “has been some time since you left your families to fight the evils of Nazi Germany and Imperialist Japan.”

“The bravery of you men and this man, we owe so much to these veterans,” he said. “You’re special and you don’t hear it enough.”

King, who represents District 44 and is the chairman of the Highways and Transportation Committee, recited a poem about veterans before offering his thanks to Flowers.

“Thank you for your courage, valor and bravery,” he said. “Your country will always be grateful to you and your sacrifice. Your sacrifice will always be meaningful in our hearts. The World War II generation is truly, truly the greatest generation.”

King, who served 13 months in Vietnam, said soldiers during World War II were truly heroes because they “couldn’t come home until the war was over.”

“All gave some and some gave all,” he said. “You truly gave all and we appreciate you very much.”

Smith, former state commander of the Mississippi American Legion, said Flowers deserved any honor he could receive.

“There are very few people alive today that know what you went through,” he said. “I’m so glad you survived, and I’m glad you’re here tonight. I thank you for what you did for this country.”

Dr. Robert Hilbun spoke on behalf of the Flowers family, delivering what he called one of the saddest stories in all of American history.

“Those American service men and women were left on the island of Luzon in the Philippines with no help,” Hilbun said. “There was a promise of additional reinforcements and supplies from the U.S., but that was never attempted. The brutality of the Japanese on our POWs, and how they survived is almost unbelievable.”

Hilbun called Flowers a “true American living hero,” and recalled when he was captured on Luzon and forced to walk the Bataan Peninsula in the Death March.

“General Douglas MacArthur had a defense plan, a delaying action until American reinforcements and supplies came,” he said. “Day after day, they looked out to see if American warships were coming to their aide. Day after day, they looked in vain because no help ever came.”

Hilbun noted that the soldiers’ food rations were cut in half and then to one-fourth, so that when they were captured, they were near starvation and disease ridden.

“Over 76,000 American and Philippine troops took the death march,” he said. “Those who weren’t able to walk were shot summarily. The walking wounded had to travel 90 miles. Over 950 lost their lives in the death march.”

Hilbun said only 9,000 of an original 25,000 American soldiers taken hostage survived Japanese imprisonment. He noted that Flowers was on a 65-man burial detail, traveling the Death March path three times to bury the dead.

Hilbun recalled two stories from Flowers’ past including a humorous story of him driving up in a Japanese built Toyota pickup.

“He told me that he prayed to get that hatred and anger out because it would have killed him,” he said. “The Lord took it away so he could drive their pickup.”

Hilbun also noted that Flowers missed his ride upon getting home to Laurel.

“He took a cab out and, when they got to Arnold’s house, the cab driver said ‘Soldier, let me sit here in my car and watch this reunion and I won’t charge you anything,’” Hilbun said. “I consider it an honor and great privilege. No man alive or dead is more deserving of this honor than you.”

Wayne Brown, MDOT Southern District Transportation Commissioner, recalled his own experiences as a young child growing up in Lucedale. Brown said he went to a rural school with only two teachers, whose families were both impacted by death during World War II.

“That began a lifelong quest of World War II history and the horror of war,” he said. “I also received an appreciation of the Bataan Death March and those prisoners.”

Brown said he hoped everybody that sees the new highways signs will know that a “hero walked here. Someone paid a great price for our freedom.”