Athens State’s annual Flag Day Ceremony is scheduled for Friday, June 12 at 12:00 pm in the Sandridge Student Center Ballroom. This year’s event is associated with America250 and honors the United States flag and our nation’s armed forces, past and present. Thanh Boyer will be this year’s guest speaker.
The Limestone County Veterans Honor Guard will present the colors, and Jerry Crabtree will lead the Pledge of Allegiance and recognize our Veterans. Music will be provided by the Athens State Community Band. The ceremony is free and open to the public with a complimentary lunch to follow.
Thanh Duong Boyer is a Vietnamese-born author, speaker, and advocate whose life story reflects extraordinary resilience, faith, and gratitude. Born into a wealthy family in the Mekong Delta of South Vietnam, her early life changed dramatically following the fall of Saigon, when the new Communist government seized her family’s assets and plunged them into poverty. In a desperate effort to secure her future, her parents sacrificed everything to send her by boat to Australia in search of freedom. The journey was fraught with danger, including attacks by pirates, and brought her face to face with death more than once—yet she survived against overwhelming odds.
Encouraged for years by those moved by her story, Boyer partnered with award-winning author Lisa Worthey Smith to bring her experiences to life in the memoir The Ground Kisser, published in April 2019. The book, an Amazon bestseller and recipient of the 2018 NGCWC Georgia Peach Award, tells the powerful true story of her journey as one of the Vietnamese “boat people,” offering a message of hope, perseverance, and faith.
Now residing in North Alabama with her husband, Boyer is actively involved in ministry and community service. She frequently speaks to veterans’ groups—especially those who served in Vietnam—expressing her deep gratitude with a heartfelt “thank you” and “welcome home.” In addition to her speaking engagements, she generously supports veterans’ organizations and orphanages in Vietnam, continuing her lifelong commitment to giving back and uplifting others through her story.
For more information, please contact [email protected].
