NewsTribune

Veterans emphasize true meaning of Memorial Day

By Joe Gamm [email protected]

Veterans — particularly those who have served during wartime — have spent the past week preparing for Memorial Day.

Their preparations include solemnity they find in the holiday.

Many spent hours during the week placing flags at veterans’ grave sites around town.

And some of the same veterans are expected to participate in ceremonies commemorating their colleagues Monday.

Memorial Day to a veteran is a solemn day, said Dan Verslues, who served in the Army for more than 28 years. Monday, they’ll remember soldiers … and their families.

“Memorial Day is also a day of remembrance for all the people who have given of themselves for this country,” Verslues said. “It really is about the country. I don’t know that that’s really built into people that much now. To me, that’s what it’s for.”

The holiday (then known as Decoration Day) came about following the Civil War as a way to honor Union soldiers who had died. By 1890, every Union state had adopted the celebration as a holiday. Following the world wars, it developed into a day of remembrance for all members of the U.S. military who died in service.

Congress, in 1971, standardized the holiday as Memorial Day and set its observance as the last Monday in May.

Verslues said it seems that if people don’t try to

do their best to remember these things, they’ll be forgotten. And that, he said, could tarnish the internal structure of the country.

“The people I think about most are the families that lost their children, or veterans who were maimed or injured or never returned home,” he said. “Because they never got to have closure completely. I don’t think they ever do. Memorial Day is a time to give them a solemn — to show our respect toward them for what they’ve given for us.

“That’s how I kind of look at it.”

Retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. William Smith, keynote speaker for Hawthorn Memorial Gardens’ Memorial Day celebration held last week, said that even after serving 30 years, he had misconceptions about what the holiday represented. He thought it was simply for all veterans. It wasn’t until he’d been asked to speak at last week’s event that he began researching the differences between U.S. holidays and realized the solemnity of Memorial Day.

“I knew about Veterans Day — I just never put the two together,” Smith said. “This is a day that is truly is an honorable day. It brings bigger meaning to what (service members) do.”

Steve Trower, with the Marine Corps League, said Thursday as he prepared to place flags alongside veterans’ grave sites at Riverview Cemetery that he grew up in a military family.

“My uncle fought at the Battle of the Bulge,” Trower said. “He was a very quiet man. He didn’t talk about it much.”

Trower said he respected what his uncle did. It led to him joining the U.S. Marine Corps at 18.

It means a lot to Trower to be around other veterans and to do things for them, he said. The more people can take care of veterans, the better, he added.

“Memorial Day is not for us,” Trower said.

He waved a hand toward nearby gravestones.

“Memorial Day is for these people — for those who have passed on,” he said.

President Joe Biden has ordered all flags be flown at half staff until noon Monday in honor of Memorial Day.

There are several Memorial Day events on tap for Monday.

• Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1003 Basinger/Sone Memorial Post will host ceremonies at the grave sites of the veterans for which it is named.

U.S. Marine Pvt. Roy Sone died in action in 1918. Then-Cole County Sheriff Wyman Basinger, who was a U.S. Marine during World War II, died in 1986 after a traffic accident on U.S. Highway 54.

The event, which will include placement of flags and small ceremonies, will take place 8 a.m. at Riverview Cemetery, 2600 W. Main St.

• The local veterans council will host a Memorial Day program Monday morning outside the State Capitol.

The program is to begin at 10:30 a.m. at the Veterans Memorial, on the north side of the Capitol, 201 W. Capitol Ave.

The event, which is free, will feature speakers Don Hentges, Missouri Veterans Commission Executive Director Paul Kirchoff and Missouri State Highway Patrol Col. Eric Olson. The event will include prayer, songs, a wreath ceremony and a bell ceremony.

• The Jefferson City Community Band will perform a free Memorial Day Concert.

The event is 2 p.m. at First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), 327 E. Capitol Ave.

FRONT PAGE

en-us

2023-05-28T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-05-28T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://edition.newstribune.com/article/281496460660372

WEHCO Media