VETERAN WILL CARRY TORCH

Charlie Clippard remembers seeing hundreds of athletes make history at the Olympic Games, and now he will be part of history as an Olympic torch bearer. Clippard, 70, is a veteran of two wars and will carry the torch past Memorial Park Cemetery on Monday.

"I feel really honored to participate in the last Olympics of the century," Clippard said. "I never asked for this."

Actually, Clippard was selected as a special guest by Coca-Cola, said Lori Hayden, a social worker at the Missouri Veterans' Home where Clippard lives.

"He served his country and there's no better person to carry the torch on Memorial Day," Hayden said.

Clippard served in World War II and the Korean War. He has lived at the Missouri Veterans' Home for about a year.

And it has been about a year since Cape Girardeau learned it was a stop on the 1996 Olympic torch route. The flame arrives at 1:06 p.m. at Themis Street. It will travel from Memphis by train before being carried by 32 local runners. Each person will carry the torch for one kilometer, or about six-tenths of a mile.

After leaving Cape Girardeau County, cyclists will carry the flame into Perry County. It should arrive in Perryville at 4:54 p.m.

"I didn't realize it was as big a deal," Clippard said. "It will be a big day."

Clippard said he will attend a memorial service at Memorial Park Cemetery Monday before his torch run later that afternoon. His segment of the relay takes him past the cemetery to the Missouri Veterans' Home.

"I'll have a built-in audience," Clippard said of his friends at the veterans' home.

Hayden agreed: "Charlie's like family." Many of the veterans' home staff are coming in on their day off to see Clippard run. Memorial Day is a state holiday.

"I'm a sprinter," Clippard said, but he doesn't have to run with the torch; he can walk or jog.

"I've been training," Clippard said, "but I've always been a believer in not over-training."

Before moving to the veterans' home, he competed in the Senior Olympics for about 15 years. But the Torch Relay is even more of an honor. "It'll be great for the kids and the grandkids," he said.

The veterans' home will display Clippard's torch after the relay.