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.”