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How do we repay the men and women who served in the U.S. military and made the ultimate sacrifice so that we could have the freedoms we enjoy?
Retired Warsaw Community High School teacher and coach Dave Baumgartner, who was the guest speaker Monday at the Memorial Day service at Oakwood Cemetery in Warsaw, asked that question and provided some suggestions.
“It is a great honor and it’s a privilege to get a chance to speak to all of you today about Memorial Day because, you see, I have this thing about Memorial Day,” Baumgartner said. “You know you hear people around Christmas time saying, ‘Oh, I wish Christmas would be every day.’ Well, as a Christian, I agree. I think Christians would accept that Christmas and Easter are two very important days in our Christian belief. But I want to submit to you the importance of Memorial Day because without Memorial Day, I don’t think we’d be celebrating Christmas or Easter on a regular basis, much less every day. So for me, I’ll go with Memorial Day and say, let’s make every day Memorial Day, along with Christmas and along with Easter.”
Memorial Day honors the men and women who died to “give us our freedom,” he said.
Memorial Day used to be called Decoration Day, until the Vietnam War in the 1960s-70s. Memorial Day was declared the official name by federal law in 1967. He said Memorial Day is a day to honor all of those who have died in uniform for the sake of the nation.
“Let’s take a quick look at this because the whole theme here is, how do we repay that? How do we give back? How do you give back to somebody that gave their life so that we can celebrate the freedom that we enjoy in the United States?” Baumgartner asked.
He said in the American Revolutionary War, 25,000 Americans died; War of 1812, about 15,000 Americans died; in the Texas war with Mexico, an estimated 500-600 people died; Civil War, around 700,000 Americans died; Spanish-American War, 2,446 Americans died; World War I, 116,516 Americans; World War II, 1,076,245 Americans; Korea, 139,858; Vietnam, almost 60,000; and the wars in the Middle East, 4,551 Americans so far.
After recognizing the war veterans present at the service, Baumgartner said, “So the big question is, how do we repay these men and these women who have served and who have given their lives. I have several suggestions.”
He said first and foremost, all of those who have died served on a team.
“Competition is competition. What do I mean? The fundamentals of teamwork and sacrifice that we should nurture in our society, that’s great for kids. That’s great for students as they’re growing up. But what about you and me? We’re adults now. How do we pay back? Should we maybe support people who look a little different than we are? Should we reach out for some understanding and not be criticizing so much? When we meet people who worship differently than we do, should we be considerate of these different people who have different political views? These are all things that these people fought and died for, those beliefs,” Baumgartner said.
He stated he thinks by putting into practice these considerations, “we honor our veterans. We honor them each and every day by being accepting because, you see, these values, as I said, that these men and women fought and died for in combat ... in fighting, people are not concerned about the color of your skin. They’re not concerned about your religious beliefs. They’re not concerned about your political beliefs. They know that they are fighting for the right to vote, and that’s how we choose our leaders.”
Baumgartner concluded by asking again how do we best honor our veterans on Memorial Day. “We thank them from the bottom of our hearts. We approach people and we offer our help wherever we possibly can. We display gratitude to those people and we reach out to help other people. We respect other points of view, and we do not judge them because we don’t agree with them. And, finally, we respect the words that were written so long ago by our Founding Fathers: We, the people, in order to form a more perfect union. Thank God for our veterans, thank God for this day. God bless them, and God bless the U.S.A.,” he stated.
Johnny Butler, commander for Squadron 49 at John C. Peterson Post 49 American Legion and the son of Bruce and Jane, said his dad was a U.S. Navy Vietnam veteran.
“They’re the ones who gave me a foundation to be a good man. I am a product of Coach Baumgartner. He has been one of my football coaches all the way through from when I started, all the way being a senior. Him and men like Coach Gary Fribley instilled many things upon me to make me who I was, in addition to my parents,” Butler said.
The biggest part he recalled, though, was Baumgartner’s history class where he first learned about Washington, D.C., monuments, specifically the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers and the ceremony that takes place.
“As Coach Baumgartner stated, what else can we do?” Butler asked before talking about the history and representation of the Honor and Remember flag.
A national organization was created on Dec. 29, 2005, because of the death of Spc. Tony Lutz in Fallujah, Iraq. His Gold Star father, George Lutz, wanted to do something else than just meeting with other Gold Star families in private so that the public could recognize the Gold Star families. George created the Honor and Remember flag, which first launched Memorial Day 2008, Butler said.
“It is a specific symbol to educate the nation on the precious cost of freedom. To raise awareness about the sacrifice made by our military men and women who died for our country. It is a distinct and tangible symbol to establish, educate, present and comfort this nation of our Gold Star families,” Butler said before going into the symbolism on the flag.
He also informed everyone at 9 a.m. Monday, all 321 names on the county war memorial were called off to remember them individually.
Twenty-nine states have adopted the Honor and Remember flag as their state recognition flag for Gold Star families, with Indiana being the 15th. He encouraged everyone to go to honorandremember.org where the first thing that will pop up is a declaration of remembrance for the almost 1.4 million service members who gave their lives in service to the nation.
“The declaration of remembrance is a call for all to sign it, to get our Congress to put it to a vote to make the Honor and Remember flag our national symbol of remembrance for our Gold Star families,” Butler concluded.
Ken Locke, American Legion Post 49, explained the tolling of the bell, which was rang seven times with seven seconds between each toll. Each toll signifies a distinct stage in a veteran’s life, conveying specific meanings: choice to serve, camaraderie, patriotism, respect, dignity, honor and the value of life.
Monday’s ceremony began with a welcome by American Legion Post 49 Commander Larry Burkhart and music by a group from Harvest Community Church, Pierceton. Post 49 Auxiliary Chaplain Bobbi Burkhart provided a prayer, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.
The ceremony ended with the placement of wreaths at each of the three veteran circles, the firing of the 21-gun salute and Taps to close.
Locke also thanked the Oakwood Cemetery and its staff for how “wonderful” the cemetery looked Monday, and a round of applause was given. He also noted that on June 27, starting at 1 p.m., there will be a heritage walk, which will feature almost all veterans.
