Veterans Groups Hold Memorial Day Service Monday

Press Release

About 150 people gathered at the Altavista Area YMCA Monday morning for a Memorial Day service that featured music, speeches and the placing of a wreath at the Memorial Shrine in War Memorial Park next door.

American Legion Memorial Post 36 and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4165 sponsored the event.

Retired Brig. Gen. John Douglass was the keynote speaker.

The Staunton River Boys sang patriotic songs as the crowd assembled and also during the program. Members of the crowd joined in on several songs, including the national anthem and "God Bless America."

Rudy Webster, commander of the American Legion post, welcomed the crowd and said he hoped that young people would learn the meaning of Memorial Day beyond it being a shopping day.

Guy Tuck read the roll of fallen comrades. Four people in the area were lost during World War I, 52 during World War II, three during the Korean War and one during the Vietnam War.

Altavista Mayor J.R. (Rudy) Burgess spoke next, saying he knew at least 75 percent of the names read from the roll of honor because of his lifelong residence in the town.

Burgess asked the audience to think about what Memorial Day meant to them.

He said he thought about the sacrifices those in service had made to keep the fighting overseas and to protect those in the United States. He thanked the veterans himself and on behalf of the people of Altavista.

"I'm not sure we thank them enough," he said.

Before introducing Douglass, Lewis Frazier, the VFW commander, read a message sent by Rep. Robert Hurt, the 5th District member in the U.S. House of Representatives. Hurt was not present, but one of his aides was.

In his message, Hurt said he had a deep gratitude for the service that veterans had given to their country, especially those who had given their lives.

Frazier said neither Hurt nor Douglass, who has been selected as the Democratic candidate to run against Hurt in the November election, were interested in making Monday's event a political gathering.

"It's strictly a patriotic day," said Frazier.

Douglass served the United States for more than 35 years in the Air Force and the Navy and under presidents Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton.

He served on the National Security Council under Reagan. He was assistant secretary of the navy for research, development and acquisition under Clinton.

At Monday's event, Douglass spoke of the two days Americans took to celebrate and honor veterans: Veterans Day in November, when all those who had served were recognized, and Memorial Day, when the focus was on those who had died in the line of duty.

Honoring loved ones was a very old tradition, he said, and Memorial Day had started during the American Civil War, when women and men in the South had decorated the graves of not just Confederate soldiers, but Yankee soldiers as well.

Douglass raised the question about why soldiers did what they did. He said there were two opportunities that soldiers had to particularly let their characters shine through: when they enlisted and when they were in active duty and first realized they could die.

People enlisted in the military for many reasons: to have a job, to see the world or to get away from home. But the common theme was that they loved their country and wanted to serve something bigger than themselves.

Soldiers realized from the beginning they would have to make sacrifices while in the military. They would lose much of their personal liberty and they would have to work hard.

At some point, many realized they might make the greatest sacrifice of all by dying in the line of duty.

When they were in that moment, when they did their duties while knowing they could die, their characters shone through, Douglass said.

And when it was over, some of the soldiers didn't make it. Douglass said he and other soldiers commonly asked themselves why they survived and their friends didn't.

Douglass spoke about one of his friends. When he was in ROTC at the University of Florida, he encouraged a friend to also join. Years later, while in Saigon, Douglass met up with his friend, who had changed his commission from the Air Force to the Navy.

Douglass said the two joked about who had the most dangerous job, which was something that soldiers did, he said.

A few years later, Douglass learned his friend had disappeared during a flight over Vietnam and was thought to be a prisoner of war.

It was eventually determined his friend was not a POW, but was missing in action.

One evening many years later, when Douglass was serving as assistant secretary of the navy, the secretary asked him to speak at a gathering of families of POWs and MIAs. At the gathering, it was to be announced that a pilot's body had been identified.

When Douglass opened up the file of the soldier, he saw that it was his friend. He wondered then why the Lord had picked him to bring his friend home, he said.

His friend's story was one he thought of on Memorial Day, Douglass said.

Douglass' speech was met by a standing ovation by the crowd.

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