Red Oak honors veterans

The Montgomery County Veterans Memorial Court of Honor provided the annual Memorial Day Ceremony at the Evergreen Cemetery in Red Oak on May 28.

Dave Jennings served at the master of ceremonies for the event. Jennings shared the story of the soldiers of Company M in World War II. Sixty-eight soldiers returned from the war, and met on a yearly basis for a reunion.

“They purchased a bottle of whiskey, and placed a plain brown wrapper around the bottle that each man signed, and the paper was sealed. The soldiers decided the last remaining veteran would drink the contents of the bottle as the last man. As the group got smaller over the years, the remaining men decided none of them wanted to be the last man, and in 2002, they gave the bottle to the Court of Honor in hopes of keeping that bottle in perpetuity. This year, the last member of that group passed away, Elmer Parker,” Jennings said.

Court of Honor member Clint Rubey led the dedication of the flags honoring the veterans of Montgomery County who passed away in 2018.

“We commemorate our honored dead. These Americans were willing to serve as defenders of peace, and believed in the American way of life and the free enterprise system. These men and women answered their call to duty without delay,” Rubey said.

Lt. Col. Darwin D. Peterson served as the keynote speaker during the event, and spoke about the history of Memorial Day, and its origins.

“What we now know as Memorial Day was originally called Decoration Day, but the exact date and location of the first Decoration Day is unclear. There are many versions of who started it and where it began,” Peterson said

Peterson said there was general agreement that Memorial Day was born out of the Civil War and a desire to honor those who gave their lives during that conflict. The first Decoration Day that was officially proclaimed was done so by Civil War general John Logan.

“On that first Decoration Day on May, 1868, General, and later President James Garfield delivered a speech at Arlington National Cemetery, and 5,000 participants decorated the graves of 20,000 Union soldiers that were buried there,” said Peterson.

However, Peterson said the practice of decorating soldiers graves went back further than the first official decoration Day. In Virginia in 1861, in Georgia in 1862, in Pennsylvania in 1864, and in South Carolina in 1865.

“That decoration in South Carolina led historian David Blight to declare the first Memorial Day was originated by African Americans. And in 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed a proclamation declaring Waterloo New York as the birthplace of Memorial Day. On the other hand, a city in Wisconsin boasts of having a Decoration Day parade every year since 1867. There’s a murky history there,” commented Peterson.

Peterson added he thought he had discovered the origins of Memorial Day.

“Memorial Day originated in the hearts of Americans. It’s a manifestation of the need we all have to honor and recognize the supreme sacrifice that so many have placed on the altar of the nation and the people they love. It is an expression of the common humanity that dwells in all of us, and unites us, regardless of gender, race, or politics. On Memorial Day, let us all reflect upon, and celebrate, the common humanity as indicated by the origins of Memorial Day, and build on the common humanity to emphasize those things we hold in common, and remove from our lives the power of those things that divide us,” Peterson said.  

The Red Oak Express

2012 Commerce Drive
P.O. Box 377
Red Oak, IA 51566
Phone: 712-623-2566 Fax: 712-623-2568

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