VFW, community pay tribute to those lost

The three-day holiday weekend has once again come and gone, but members of the VFW Post 3596 in Plains would rather show their respect to lost comrades on the original Memorial Day – May 30.

More than 30 community members joined the VFW and VFW Auxiliary members Wednesday evening at Plains Cemetery for a brief ceremony at the gravesite of Walter R. Martin, a U.S. Navy World War II veteran. Although Martin didn't perish during the war, there are a handful of vets who did at the cemetery, according to Shawn Emmett, chairman of Plains Cemetery District. Emmett recalled that two of them were killed at Iwo Jima and two died in Italy during World War II.

The ceremony was started by Jim Gillibrand, the post's vice commander. "As long as two comrades survive, so long will the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States render tribute to our heroic dead," said Gillibrand at the ceremony.

"This helps remind people of the real Memorial Day and it reminds people what it's all about," said Gillibrand, a U.S. Army veteran. Gillibrand is among those who believe that changing the holiday merely to make it a three-day weekend weakens the real purpose of Memorial Day, which began in 1868 as Decoration Day. It was officially made Memorial Day in 1966 by President Lyndon B. Johnson, but in 1971, the federal government switched it to the last Monday of May.

"I think that in order to have it on a Monday just to have a three-day weekend is a dishonor to the veterans. We need to keep having it on the real day," said Otto Otnes, the post chaplain who served in the U.S. Navy from 1972-1975.

Not all members feel the change was bad, as long as people continue to remember the reason behind the holiday. "When I stand out there, I get emotional," said Don Kunzer, who spent 27 years in the U.S. Army, including a year in Vietnam. "That's the problem; I don't think enough people know what it's all about," said U.S. Navy veteran John Szafryk, who was born in Poland in 1940 during the Nazi occupation.

Each year on May 30, Post 3596 conducts a service at the cemetery, followed by a wreath ceremony at the bridge next to the county fairgrounds.

"On this day, forever, consecrated to our heroic dead, we are assembled once again to express sincere reverence," said Gillibrand, who had served as post commander four times. During the ceremony, VFW members Bill Beck and Charles "Ole" Oelschlager laid carnations on Martin's grave, followed by a small wreath by member Gary Jenson and a small American flag by Gillibrand. Representing the Auxiliary, Nora Verpoorten laid a flower on the grave, followed by Aaron Foreman, who played "Taps" on the electronic bugle.

Just prior to the ceremony, Margaret McNeil and Don Kunzer put up new American and POW/MIA flags at the cemetery. "We do it in memory of all the guys that were never found," said McNeil. She and her husband, Kim, donate the flags every year.

Following the cemetery ceremony, Denise Moreth, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, tossed a wreath into the Clark Fork River to commemorate perished members of the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard.