Army Vet’s Passion Sparks Memorial Day Gathering at H-E-B

Army veteran, and H-E-B manager, Pam Fellers organized Memorial Day tributes right at her grocery store.

On April 7, 2003, Pam Fellers was joking around with a fellow serviceman, Specialist George A. Mitchell, just south of Baghdad during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Thirty minutes later, Spc. Mitchell would be struck by an enemy rocket, killing him at 35 years old. This Memorial Day, Spc. Mitchell, and other fallen servicemen and women, were enshrined with photos inside of H-E-B on a ‘Wall of Honor’, thanks to the efforts of Fellers.

Pam Fellers is the restaurant manager at H-E-B on Veterans Boulevard. She is also a retired Army veteran who served in Iraq. Her experiences in the war zone have provided a perspective on the meaning of sacrificing one’s life for the freedom of others that few can directly appreciate. But Pam intends to inspire such appreciation using whatever venue life has given her. So for the second year in a row, H-E-B hosted a procession of Memorial Day tributes inside the grocery store so others might reflect on the meaning of the holiday, or even learn the name and story of a fallen American service-member from the Wall of Honor. But the Wall was just one feature of many at H-E-B’s Memorial Day celebrations.

With the support of her H-E-B leadership team, Pam planned for moments throughout the national holiday meant to enliven in others the tradition of remembrance. From a performance by baton twirlers, to an appearance by Del Rio High School’s Junior ROTC class, and a public reading of the Fallen Soldiers Poem, the grocery store, known for its extremely high foot-traffic, became a temple of solemn contemplation for some moments on Monday. 

Yet another point of observance, was a display known as the "Fallen Soldier’s Table", or the "Missing Man Table". The symbolic display is a table set for one, complete with tablecloth and dinnerware with items like a red rose, an empty chair, and a bible, each signaling separate meanings. A white tablecloth to represent purity of intention of the soldier; a chair to represent the soldier’s absence; and a red rose representing blood shed. 

Fellers says that she’s noticed little-to-no tradition of observing Memorial Day in Del Rio, and that she’d like to spark an increase in commemorative events, like H-E-B’s, to the community at large.

"I’m hoping to make it an annual event and we’ll add more and more things and make it a big deal, and educate people on what it’s really about," Pam Fellers says about the meaning of the event. 

Fellers notes the distinction between honoring living service members and honoring those who died while serving. 

"Memorial Day is not about those of us who survived. It’s about those who didn’t make it. This is a way to honor their sacrifice and show their family and friends that we remember them," Fellers explains.

Concluding the day of reflection, ‘Taps’ rang aloud inside the store, played by a live bugle, and followed by a minute of silence.