Dr. Barclay Shepard will be the featured speaker talking about his extensive career as a Navy surgeon at the Veterans Day observance at the Southport Memorial Library on Monday, Nov. 11 at 11 a.m.

The event, sponsored by the Southport Library Aides, will honor all those who have served, who serve, or have died for our country.

Veterans and their families, as well as all local residents, are invited to gather in the library at 10:45 a.m. for the ceremony, which will start promptly at 11 a.m.

Dr. Shepard graduated in 1944 from the Maine Maritime Academy. From there he began to sail in the Merchant Marine on American Export Ships for a number of years. Later, while visiting his family in Turkey, a decision was made to enroll at Bowdoin College seeing him graduate in 1950. After a period of teaching, the desire to follow his family’s tradition of medical service, he earned an entrance to Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston. After graduating in 1958, Barclay spent his internship and surgery training at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. With an internship and residency requirements done he was transferred to the naval hospital in Beaufort, South Carolina. Another two years was spent at the U.S. Naval Hospital in St. Albans, New York. Dr. Shepard as a general surgeon decided to specialize in chest surgery and became certified to practice thoracic surgery. In 1967 he volunteered for Vietnam duty and was assigned to the USS Repose, one of the Navy’s two hospital ships in the Da Nang and DMZ areas. This assignment lasted for a year.

Dr. Shepard returned to the states and became the Chief of Thoracic Surgery at St. Albans Naval Hospital for two years and ending with another stint at Bethesda, Maryland. His next career assignment was to work in a division of the Navy Surgeon General’s Office where he was placed in charge of future designs and construction of medical facilities. In 1978 he retired from the Navy but continued to work with the Central Office of the Veterans Administration. His work dealt with initiating a program for Agent Orange. Finally his work with computerized medical records brought him to retirement in August 1991. He remains active in the community as a regular volunteer for many organizations.

Southport veteran Jim Singer will be the master of ceremonies. Others who have previously helped with the program will again lead attendees in flag raising and lowering, prayer, song, taps and read the names of those veterans who have died in the past year. Jim also will be showing his slide presentation of all the veterans from the Boothbay region. A special presentation will be made this year to all those veterans who are in attendance at this year’s program.

All are invited to attend for coffee and donuts after the conclusion of the program. The Southport Library is located at Cape Newagen at the far end of Southport island. Follow Route 27 and the detour signs to the library.