On Memorial Day: Tears, salutes

As the wind whipped through Servicemen’s Memorial Cemetery Monday, a couple hundred people gathered to celebrate Memorial Day. Patriotic music from the Mitchell Municipal Band brought tears to some eyes and salutes from others.

Greg Von Wald, Mitchell Technical Institute’s president and a retired Marine lieutenant colonel, talked about the real meaning of Memorial Day that for some has been lost.

“A lot of people have taken Memorial Day as a holiday, as a commercial type of event. I want to spend a few minutes talking to you about the history of Memorial Day and what it means to me personally,” he said.

Von Wald noted the history of Memorial Day, which had its beginnings following the Civil War and in 1882 became a declared holiday.

“Today we honor over 1,167,000 debts of American wars,” he said. “We are not here today to mourn, nor are we here to glorify war. … Instead, most of us, if we really stopped to reflect, are here to honor and keep alive the principle for which these men and women died.”

Von Wald told a story of when he was young, and was asked to play “Taps” at a military funeral in January 1966.

“As we stood in the cemetery of that cold, blustery day … I began to wonder just what could inspire the men from the Legion to show up on such a brutal day to take time away from their jobs and life and honor someone they didn’t even know.”

He went on to tell about the realization that happened later that day, during fellowship in the Legion hall.

“As these men began to talk, invariably the talk turned toward their military service. They never spoke of heroics or of bravery or the fear and loneliness that they had to feel on a battlefield. Nor did they speak of the trauma of having lost someone they loved. Rather, they spoke and laughed about rather mundane things from their service days. Gradually, it dawned on me that really what was going on in that room was that they simply enjoyed the company of each other, the company of those who lived through the same unspoken horrors of combat.”

Von Wald acknowledged the sacrifice that so many have given without question.

“It’s a lot to ask of anyone to put a hold on all of your future plans to say goodbye to your family and to march off to some unknown land where you have never been to defend your country. But we ask this of our sons and daughters to do that and more. We ask them to give up everything that they hold dear in order to fight and perhaps die for this simple intangible, this principle of freedom.”

Following presentations at Graceland Cemetery and the Navy Lagoon, a crowd gathered at the American Legion Cemetery, where Chief Warrant Officer of the S.D. National Guard Alan Nicolaisen gave the memorial address.

“Today we gather to honor all the servicemen and women who have come before us and paid the ultimate sacrifice so we may enjoy the freedoms we do,” he said.

Nicolaisen asked all in attendance to remember those who have left their loves ones, homes and livelihoods to fight the injustices against fellow man.

“And, especially, remember those that have made that ultimate sacrifice so that we can live in the land of the free and the home of the brave,” he said

Following the address, red, white and blue balloons were distributed during the reading of roll call of those who have died. And as “Taps” echoed through the lines of tombstones, the balloons were released, one for each of the fallen.

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