By Ellen Edmonds

RICHMOND

On Aug. 21, Kay Tillar Montgomery and Terry Tillar Fields represented the Hicksford Chapter of the NSDAR at the naturalization ceremony at the U.S. District Court on Broad Street in Richmond. Judge Roderick C. Young, Magistrate Judge for the Eastern District of Virginia, presided. The ceremony began with a roll call alphabetically by name with country origin.

There were 70 new citizens at each of the morning and afternoon ceremonies. They were from 38 countries all over the world: India, Iran, Jordan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sudan, United Kingdom, France, Spain, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Philippines, Vietnam, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Congo, Cameroon, Trinidad and Tobago, Bangladesh, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Brazil, Venezuela, Columbia, El Salvador, Honduras, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Russia, Romania, Bulgaria, Armenia, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.

After the roll call, the new citizens raised their right hands and took the Oath of Allegiance to support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic.

Judge Young gave a motivational talk about our country being a country of patriots and immigrants and the contributions that have been made to our country from many immigrants over the years. He concluded the ceremony with the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag by the new citizens for the first time and the presentation of the Naturalization Certificates.

The DAR representatives gave American flags to the children of the new citizens before the ceremony and also handed each new citizen a Flag Code brochure with an American flag inserted in it after they proudly received their certificates.