Mount Pulaski honors veteran sacrifices with double services

[May 31, 2020]   On Monday, May 25th, the Mount Pulaski area held Memorial Day Services at both Mount Pulaski Cemetery and Steenbergen Cemetery honoring the memories of those who sacrificed their lives for our country.

Both ceremonies began with the raising of the American flag followed by an instrumental version of the Star-Spangled Banner.

Reverend Jonathan Buescher provided an invocation reflecting on the great courage of those who made honorable sacrifices for freedom. He said the pandemic this year gives more appreciation to what it means to live in dangerous times. He also expressed sympathy for people whose family members are in harm’s way.

Mount Pulaski Mayor Matt Bobell thanked everyone for coming and the American Legion and Ladies’ Auxiliary for helping set up the Memorial Day Service. Bobell said the Legion and Auxiliary have hosted the service for the past 40 years. He called it a great way for the community to gather and honor those who have fallen.

This year’s speaker was Colonel Stanley Manes, a retired U.S. Army veteran.

Before speaking Manes honored Legion scholarship recipient Isabella Wade. Wade was the Mount Pulaski High School class valedictorian and won a Biliteracy Award for Spanish. Wade will be attending Lincoln Land Community College to study pre-med.

Manes said many people think of Memorial Day as the start of the summer season, but that misses the reason. The commemoration started May 30th, 1866 in Iowa with slaves celebrating their freedom. By 1886, it became an official holiday

Memorial Day was once called Decoration Day. As some still do, people decorated graves for those who fought in battle and sacrificed their lives.

Manes said we must remember the fallen and those who fought in defense of freedom, so their deaths are not in vain.

In 2018 in Europe, Manes said the 100th Anniversary of the World War I was commemorated with poppies. Back in 1915, Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae inspired by the poppies in Flander’s Field in Belgium wrote a poem about the many lives lost in Flanders during the first World War. The poem talks about the poppies that grow between the crosses, row by row, marking the soldier’s places. It also described their tragic deaths, and honors the dead.

Manes said the overall message of the poem is to keep the torch burning high in the name of democracy.

As he closed his address, Manes thanked everyone for the support. He said to remember the service and sacrifices of the fallen.

Other parts of the ceremony at Mount Pulaski Cemetery included the raising the colors. The placement of wreaths was done by the American Legion, Sons of the American Legion, the Ladies’ Auxiliary, Phoenix Fire Department, Mount Pulaski EMS, and the local Boy Scout troop. Mount Pulaski youth then placed flowers around the veteran’s memorial plaque.

At the Steenbergen Cemetery, 123 flags that honor veterans from various wars were displayed for the holiday. A roster listed the names of the veterans honored. Mane said the Avenue of Flags was inspiring.

The events wrapped up with a Color Guard from the Mount Pulaski American Legion Post 447 and Mount Pulaski SAL Squadron 447 providing a 21-gun salute followed by the playing of Taps.


[Angela Reiners]


Related Link:
https://www.poetryfoundation.
org/poems/47380/in-flanders-fields