In the days leading up to the Civil War, the citizenry of Collin County was divided on the decision of whether to remain in the Union, or to secede and join the Confederacy. An election was held with an overwhelming result, 948 to 405, to stay with the Union. However, overall in the state, the decision to secede was passed, and in 1861, Texas became part of the Confederate States of America. Out of a population of less than 10,000, approximately 3,000 Collin County men volunteered to serve with the Confederacy, and an unknown number chose to serve with the Union. The exact number is not known, but hundreds of those brave young men did not return home, having been killed on battlefields from Pea Ridge to Gettysburg.

Today, cemeteries throughout the county contain the graves of those veterans who did return and live to tell the tales of honor, hardship, and sacrifice. In 1917, a tall granite monument, in honor of the Confederate soldiers, was erected in Farmersville and still stands proudly today. Pecan Grove Cemetery in McKinney is the final resting-place for many of those vets, with a monument dedicated to their service.

In the remaining years of the 19^th Century, young men of Collin County went off to fight in the Indian Wars, another war with Mexico, as well as a war against Spain. The Spanish-American War would be the first time US Soldiers would actually be sent in great numbers to fight overseas in places like Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and the Philippine Islands.

In 1918, the United States entered World War I, which because of its savagery and tremendous loss of life, was described as "The War to End All Wars." On September 12, American troops were involved in their first offensive at the Battle of St. Mihiel, France. During a lull in fighting, Pvt. Jimmy Geigas, of McKinney, gathered together canteens from the men of his unit who were thirsty and out of water. Jimmy made his way back to a stream near a small town they had passed earlier in the day. On the return trip to his unit, a German plane flew over and dropped a bomb. Jimmy was hit by shrapnel from the explosion and was killed. Jimmy Geigas would become the first Collin County boy ever to be killed in battle on foreign soil.

World War II would claim over two hundred Collin County men. On December 7, 1941, three of them were sailors on board the USS Arizona, and were killed in the opening minutes of the war. Thousands of local young men and women served and fought in all corners of the globe, on land, sea, and in the air. The most decorated and the most famous soldier of that war, Audie Murphy, hailed from Farmersville. The citizens of Farmersville have erected a monument to their fallen heroes on the town square, and hold an annual festival in the name of Murphy, which honors all its veterans.

The bloody war in Korea, in the early 1950s, would claim eighteen Collin County boys.

The war in Vietnam would see the sacrifice of twenty-three local young men. Lieutenant Russell Steindam, of Plano, would become the county’s second Congressional Medal of Honor recipient, when he selflessly sacrificed his life in order to save his comrades by diving on an enemy grenade.

On 14 November, 2007, 2nd Lt. Peter . Burks, of Celina, was serving in Iraq when he was killed by an improvised explosive device. In the eighty-six years between the time Jimmy Geigas was killed on the battlefield in France, and Peter Burks, more than three hundred Collin County servicemen have been died in the service of their country.

Memorial Day is a special day in Collin County. The cemeteries are filled with many of those heroes. It is a chance for all of us to stop and think about them, the sacrifices they made, and to be thankful for the freedoms we so much enjoy. We are blessed to live in such a great country, and should honor and never forget those who have made it possible.