The Emporia Gazette

February 9, 2010

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Since 2005 participating in Memorial Day services has taken on an even more important meaning for my family. While we always tried to make the annual pilgrimage to the cemetery to honor those who died in the service of their country, with my dad’s death that year, it has become something we never miss.

My dad, Bert, died in February 2005 and like so many veterans, he now rests in those hallowed grounds.

Dad was a World War II veteran and spent three years in the service – much of it in Italy with the 15th Army Air Corps. He was a crew chief and kept the B-24 Liberators flying and dropping bombs on Hitler’s war machine and fuel depots.

Dad carried a special place in his heart for all veterans. They were his brothers and he knew first hand the sacrifices these young men and women make for the families, friends and all the people who live in our United States.

When he spoke of his service buddies and old friends he’d made while in Italy, he said their names with reverence. When he recalled the names of some who didn’t come home, he bowed his head and later, toward the end of his own life, tears would sometimes trickle from his eyes.

Like so many of his comrades in arms, he always wondered why the good Lord let him return and took so many other good young men. It was a riddle he never solved, but often pondered.

Yes this Memorial Day, I will go to the cemetery with my son, Ben, and we’ll lower our heads and say a silent prayer for Dad and Grandpa Bert. Like his battlefield counterparts, Dad’s march is over. He rests with them in cemeteries across our state.

Some of these graves are filled with young men who barely reached adulthood when they died. Their stories tell of dreams unfulfilled, of promises and potentials cut short.

While visiting these places, it is possible to be overcome with a sense of yearning. It is also possible to feel something larger, a sense of finality and rest, and a sense of peace.

The soldiers from World War I, World War II, the Korean conflict, Vietnam, Desert Storm, Iraqi Freedom and Afghanistan are at rest in these cemeteries. They live on in the memory of their families and friends and, in a larger sense, in the memory and gratitude of the nation they gave their lives for.

On Memorial Day, Kansans will once again gather in cemeteries in Iola, Valley Falls, Meade, Washington, Hoisington or Grinnell to recall and reassure themselves that the lives and deaths of these young men and women had meaning.

When we think of our liberties this Memorial Day, remember that some gave all. Remember those veterans who died so we could remain free.

Only a handful of those who served in World War I remain, and the number who served in World War II dwindles daily. Vietnam veterans have reached middle age and today’s young men and women are the veterans of wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

For many their story remains the same. They grew up as farm kids in the Midwest or some other region of our country. Those from the Midwest grew up with the feel of the prairie earth beneath their feet, the wide-open sky overhead and the rhythm of the seasons in their blood.

At an early age, most of the young men learned to drive the tractor with their dads. Like many farm boys, they understood machinery and the use of tools. They developed self-reliance and initiative.

Soon, many found themselves in another field far from home. This field was a battlefield in Europe, the Far East, Vietnam or the Middle East. These veterans become the unsung heroes of war.

But these young men and women were not repairing a combine in a harvest field or operating a small business on Mainstreet. Instead, they were patching up a tank under enemy fire, threading their way through the jungles of Vietnam, avoiding anti-personnel mines in Iraq or keeping an eye peeled for snipers in Afghanistan.

This Memorial Day, mothers, fathers, families and friends will travel to cemeteries across Kansas and our country. Once on those hallowed grounds, they will pause to remember and pray for the young men and women who did not return from war and those like my father who have died.

At the same time let’s give thanks and remember those veterans who are still with us. Let’s not forget those serving around the world today in the armed forces.

• John Schlageck is a leading commentator on agriculture and rural Kansas.

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