Photos| Domtar
BENNETTSVILLE– Employees at Domtar’s Marlboro paper mill recently unveiled a wall dedicated to saluting its employee veterans. Domtar Corporation is a Paper Excellence Group company.
The event, which included a ceremony at the flagpole in front of the mill’s administrative building and lunch for guests, was attended by about 50 employees. Several state and local dignitaries also attended including A.D. Jordan from the office of U.S. Senator Tim Scott, South Carolina Representative Patricia Henegan, and Marlboro County Sheriff Larry McNeil.
The idea for a salute wall started as a casual conversation between Obi Moody, a talent acquisition partner at Domtar’s Fort Mill, South Carolina, headquarters — who is also a native of Marlboro County, South Carolina, and a 20-year Navy veteran – and Phillip Lascano, a mill electrical project engineer and five-year Marine Corp. veteran.
“We wanted to do something to recognize our veterans and salute their service,” Moody said. “We knew it had to be something meaningful that would receive a good reaction.”
Located in the foyer of the mill’s operations building entrance, the salute wall was met with overwhelming support from its nearly 350 employees. Currently, the wall recognizes 23 mill employees who have served in the U.S. armed forces, with plans to add additional veterans soon.
“The salute wall is our legacy,” Lascano said. “It honors the veterans before us while creating a pathway to honor them in the future.”
Based on the enthusiasm shown by Marlboro mill employees, Lascano and Moody hope to be able to help other Paper Excellence Group facilities establish their own salute walls as well.
“The Marlboro mill’s salute wall is yet another way we’re recognizing and paying tribute to our employees’ military contributions,” said Eric Haggard, Paper Excellence Group director of diversity, equity and inclusion. “We look forward to seeing other locations duplicate this effort in the future.”