Published: November 09, 2009 08:24 am      

Berea honors veterans

City holds parade, wreath-laying ceremony

BEREA — The American and Kentucky flags flapped in a brisk breeze Sunday as 16 junior ROTC Air Force cadets marched behind the banners, first around Ellipse Street and then up Jefferson Street from Berea Community School to Memorial Park.

The teenagers’ shiny black shoes moved in unison as their commander called a snappy cadence. The veterans who had marched off to war as stout young men 40 to 70 years earlier rode behind them in a small bus.

The aging veterans – some stooped, others steadied by canes – took the front row seats of honor under a Memorial Park pavilion as the cadets stood at attention for the city of Berea’s annual Veterans Day ceremony.

The JROTC corps commander, Lainy Barrick, led the gathering in the Pledge of Allegiance and Erica Jackson sang The National Anthem.

As friends and family of the veterans moved closer in, Berea Mayor Steve Connelly and state Rep. Lonnie Napier, R-Lancaster, offered praise and thanks for their service.

While many of America’s great heroes, such as George Washington, were veterans, Napier said, many more “quiet heroes are all around us. They are our friends, our neighbors and family members.”

Veterans Day, which will be observed nationally on Wednesday, should be a day of resolve as well as a day to remember brave veterans, Napier said.

“Let us resolve to carry on their proud tradition, so that the veterans who came before us shall not have sacrificed in vain,” he said.

Quoting former President Calvin Cooledge, he said, “The nation that forgets its veterans will itself be forgotten.”

As the wind blew and brown oak leaves rustled in the grass, Connelly read the names of service members from Berea who died in World Wars I and II, Korea and Vietnam.

He then read the rosters of Berea’s two American Legion posts, including some who died this year.

The commanders of the two posts, Charles Strawser and John Jacobs, then joined Connelly in placing a wreath at the monument where the names of those killed in action are inscribed.

The a rifle squad from the local Marine Corps League, dressed in their distinctive red jackets, fired three volleys followed by the playing of taps.

As the Marine veterans clamped the safeties on their rifles, many lingered to savor the moment and several older veterans wished each other well.

A Vietnam veteran, Carl Roberts, said he was disappointed that the ceremony did not include a prayer “thanking God for our country.”

Bill Robinson can be reached at brobinson@ richmondregister.com or at 624-6622.