June 1, 1991, is burned in Helen Morriss' memory.
Bows and flags adorned mailboxes in Lilburn from U.S. 29 to Main Street that day as hundreds of residents packed the grounds of City Hall and its adjacent park for a show of patriotism. Bands played. Children waved tiny flags. And local leaders paid tribute to those who had served with a monument of granite, metal and fire.
"It was a good ol' Southern day," Morriss said of Operation Thank You, which she helped organize to salute soldiers of five wars.
The monument's most visible part, an eternal flame atop a metal pole, was donated by the Atlanta Gas Light Co. Like other eternal flames from Atlanta to Arlington, Va., it was supposed to burn around the clock.
"They said it would take a hurricane to blow it out," said Morriss, a longtime resident and city councilwoman at the time.
Turns out, all it took were gusts of wind. And almost 20 years after Lilburn's eternal flame was lit city leaders, unable to keep the fire going, have extinguished it for good.
"It was not a satisfactory eternal flame. It was neither eternal nor aflame," Mayor Pro Tem Johnny Crist said. "It's not going to be very helpful to anybody who is a vet to walk by an eternal flame that is not lit. We want to honor, not dishonor."
And with the smell of gas constantly lingering in the air, Lilburn officials felt the flame was a liability, Mayor Diana Preston said.
Two weeks ago, officials removed the metal pole and gas connection. What's left is a nearly 4-foot-tall granite slab, barely noticeable in front of the Police Department at City Hall. That angers Morriss, 76.
"The monument does not look right where it is," she said. "The flame, when it was working, drew a little attention to it."
Charlie Tucker, state commander for the American Legion, which represents 60,000 veterans, believes Lilburn shouldn't give up.
"The feeling I get is that the flame represents forever, never forget," Tucker said. "I would advise [Lilburn] to give it one more attempt."
Lilburn's problems started in 1996, when the monument was moved about 120 feet from the old City Hall to the new one on Main Street, longtime City Clerk Kathy Maner said. She estimates it went out at least 50 times over the years.
Officials had trouble pinpointing the cause. Some speculated it was installed improperly, and at one point officials replaced the gas line and burner. But most believe wind was the culprit.
"It became known by employees as the infernal flame because no matter what we did, we could not keep it lit," said Jan Brumbelow, assistant to the police chief.
The situation isn't unique to Lilburn. Wind frequently blew out Snellville's eternal flame, installed in the late 1980s to honor Vietnam veterans. The city decided not to relight it when the monument was moved to the new City Hall on Oak Road in 2004.
Steve Klein, communications director for the King Center in Atlanta, said the eternal flame there went out from time to time. Last year, Atlanta Gas Light Co. upgraded and raised the flame to make it safer and more functional, he said.
More than a dozen eternal flames blaze statewide in cities such as Atlanta, Decatur, Douglasville, Macon, Rome and Columbus.
Lilburn officials are considering moving the $1,400 granite monument, purchased mostly with donations, to the peace garden in City Park. The flame, though, wouldn't return, the mayor said.
"They tried to fix it and there's no way to fix it," Preston said. "But we do need to take it and give it a new life."
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