VFW hosts veteran tribute

A small crowd gathered at the Plains Cemetery for VFW Post 3596's Memorial Day service on Sunday evening in remembrance of those military veterans who served their country and have passed on.

Post 3596 Commander Ron Kilbury led the ceremony at the American flag, the centerpiece of a section of the cemetery surrounded by numerous veterans' gravesites, each with a small American flag placed by the post members and volunteers the previous week. 

Senior Vice Commander Dave Tupper, an Army veteran, laid a green sprig at the base of the flag as a symbol of remembrance of past veterans. Junior Vice Commander Matt Wachsmuth, donned in his Air Force camouflage uniform, and Officer of the Day Larry Smith, also formerly in the Air Force, placed carnations at the flagpole, along with Deborah Davis of the post auxiliary. Otto Otnes, the post chaplain, gave the prayer. Kilbury said the ceremony is dedicated to the soldiers, sailors and airmen who gave their lives going back to the first conflict, the Revolutionary War, the war that gave birth to the United States.

"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 Kilbury, the post commander for almost three years. "On this day, forever separated to our heroic dead, we are assembled once again to express sincere reverence," he said. Kilbury served six years in the Navy and 20 years in the Army. Fourteen VFW members participated in the ceremony and a dozen community members, some of them veterans themselves, took the time to attend the observance. The ceremony included a three volley gun salute and the playing of "Taps." "I think about everybody that made sacrifices for our country to give us the freedom we have," said Marine Corps veteran Noah Hathorne, who led the rifle squad in his first time to participate in the Memorial Day ceremony.

Memorial Day was originally established as Decoration Day after the American Civil War to honor those Union soldiers and sailors who died to keep the country together. For several years after the war, Southern states didn't immediately observe Decoration Day because they had their own holiday to commemorate Confederate military men who died for their cause. In 1968, the holiday was changed to Memorial Day and three years later it was switched from May 30 to the last Monday in May. Most VFW posts, however, believe the real meaning behind Memorial Day was lost by moving it to a Monday in order to give people a three-day weekend.

Once the ceremony was completed at the cemetery, the entourage moved to the bridge next to the county fairgrounds, where they formed up in the middle of the bridge for the second part of the commemoration. Gary Jenson, who served in the Navy from 1969 to 1972, most of his time on board the USS Wallace L. Lind, a destroyer, tossed a small wreath into the Clark Fork River to honor lost members of the sea services - the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard. 

"Fighting under the flag of this nation is the privileged duty of every able bodied American, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars will always honor those who go forth in defense of our nation. They are the true guardians of freedom, justice and equality among men," said Kilbury. "We have assembled here to pay tribute to the men and women of our country who have served in the United States armed forces who fought in defense of this country and for the preservation of our way of life, and who lost their lives at sea," he said. Once again, the vets paid tribute with a salute and post member Greg Davis, an Army veteran, played "Taps" on an electronic bugle.