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The message to the veterans, friends and family members gathered Monday at Floyd E. “Tut” Fann State Veterans home was to listen to the stories of the men and women who died serving the United States and reflect on their personal stories and memories.
Remembering keeps memories alive and reminds everyone of the price some service members have paid for their fellow countrymen.
Then, they were asked to take it one step further.
“In 1868, General John Logan, the national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, wrote that we should not only remember those who died in defense of their country but also renew our pledges to aid and assist those who have been left amongst us, the widows and the orphans,” Brig. Gen. Christine Beeler, commander of Army Contracting Command and the speaker at the event, said.
She was quoting John Logan, a general from the Civil War and Mexican-American War, a U.S. senator and commander of the Grand Army of the Republic who played a large role in the creation of Memorial Day.
Beeler brought attention to two fallen service members, Sgt. 1st Class Alwyn Cashe, who served in the Gulf War and Operation Iraqi Freedom, and Technical Sgt. Beauford Theodore Anderson who served in World War II, and the men who died during D-Day on June 6, 1944.
Cashe died on Nov. 8, 2005, from injuries he sustained the previous month while saving six Soldiers and an Iraqi interpreter after his Bradley Fighting Vehicle was struck by an improvised explosion device. Cashe was awarded the Medal of Honor.
Anderson received the Medal of Honor for singlehandedly repelling a surprise attack from Japanese soldiers.
“Your service spans continents, countries and conflicts,” Beeler said. “You have all stood tall, and those that we honor today, Memorial Day, have as well. You have borne the weight of freedom on your shoulders, as they have,” Beeler said.
Each year, the staff and residents at Tut Fann honor the people they’ve lost over the past 12 months, from May to May. There were 74 names on the list.
Those remembered were: Ellie Allen, Castel Allgood, Earl Anderson, Melton Anderson, Jerald Babe, Charles Ball, Robert Batten, Theodore Bledsoe, Jimmy Boggs, Eugene Briggs, Kirby Brown, Modesto Brown, Harold Burnett, Howard Clemons, Roger Cornelius, Isaac Daniels, Wayne Dutt, John Edens, Chester England, Parker Ezell, Joseph Finazzo, Marvin Garner, Donald Garrett, Larry Gautney, William Gibson, Mark Grasak, William Greer, Charles Hall, Joe Hamm, Arnold Hill, William Hitt, Robert Jack, James Jarrett, James Jones, John Junkins, James Lindsey, Arnold Lewis, Hugh Killingsworth, Alan Knapp, Charles McCormick, Jonathan Medlock, Billy Megnin, Lawrence Moore, Edward Morrice, Kenneth Morrow, Harold Mountain, Hayward Murphy, John Neal, Roy Noble, Harold Parvin, Darrell Patton, Joseph Pitt, Marvin Pschirer, Leroy Pugh, Delmas Radcliff, James Reaid, Emory Rhyne, Howard Rice, Karen Richards, Lewis Sharpe, Burley Shirley, Ernest Smith, Paul Stanger, Albert Stowers, Wayne Suchman, James Swaim, Alfred Tingle, Ivan Toney, Thomas Tripaldi, William Wallace, Curtis Wilson, Roy Wilson and Herbert Wittman.
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