BATON ROUGE - Governor John Bel Edwards will honor veterans this Thursday by joining some of those who served alongside members of the American Rose Society in commemorating a “Never Forget” flower garden in the Louisiana Veterans Memorial Park adjacent to the Louisiana State Capitol.

The 11 a.m. Veterans Day Never Forget Garden ceremony will take place at the Capitol Park Museum across Spanish Town Road in front of the Louisiana State Capitol.

Besides honoring Louisiana’s soldiers on Veterans Day, the ceremony and garden also commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the Dedication of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The National Society of the Honor Guard, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier has enlisted the American Rose Society to encourage the creation of Never Forget Gardens across the United States.

The Louisiana garden is a statewide volunteer project of members of the American Rose Society, the Louisiana Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and the Louisiana Garden Club Federation.

Rep. Mike Johnson, R-Alexandria, authored House Concurrent Resolution 91 calling for “Louisiana to commemorate the centennial with the National Salute by the firing of the twenty-one gun salute, ringing of bells, observing two minutes of silence, or playing taps.”

It encourages “the attendance of Veterans' Day ceremonies, visitation of military cemeteries and memorials, and the honoring of the American Flag.”

It also “does hereby call Louisianans to dedicate special places in their gardens as ‘never forget’ gardens, which will serve as living tributes to all of America's veterans and their families.”

Four-Star General Graves Blanchard Erskine of Columbia, La., assisted in the return of the Unknown Soldier to American shores in 1921.

Erskine served in World War I, World War II, and beyond, and after his active duty military career, served the U.S. Department of Defense until his retirement in 1961.