{"id":103206,"date":"2018-05-29T07:48:55","date_gmt":"2018-05-29T12:48:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=103206"},"modified":"2018-05-30T07:47:31","modified_gmt":"2018-05-30T12:47:31","slug":"veterans-groups-remember-comrades-on-memorial-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2018\/05\/29\/veterans-groups-remember-comrades-on-memorial-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Veterans remembered on Memorial Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"
A veteran salutes as “Taps” is played following a 21-gun salute to honor those veterans who gave their lives in the nation’s military conflicts.<\/strong> photos by Dave Mosier\/Van Wert independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Van Wert County veterans organizations remembered colleagues who made the ultimate sacrifice in the nation\u2019s military conflicts during Memorial Day services on Monday.<\/p>\n

Van Wert veterans and others gathered at Woodland Cemetery for a traditional service in memory of local soldiers who fell in battle. Following the invocation, Pat Freeman read off a list of those killed in every war and military conflict this country has ever fought — from the 1,565 who died in the Persian Gulf conflict to the nearly 500,000 who died in the Civil War. Freeman also talked about the sacrifices U.S. military veterans have made to maintain the nation\u2019s freedom.<\/p>\n

Also speaking was David Beck, commander of American Legion Post 178 in Van Wert.<\/p>\n

Beck spoke about the American flags scattered throughout Woodland Cemetery — and cemeteries around the country — honoring the veterans who serve — and have served — in the country\u2019s five military service branches: Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marines, and Navy.<\/p>\n

Beck also talked about the mixed emotions he has on Memorial Day.<\/p>\n

\"\"
American Legion Post 178 Commander David Beck talks about his feelings on Memorial Day.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cFor me, as a veteran, Memorial Day is a day full of emotion, filled with fake smiles, anger, misunderstanding, and guilt,\u201d he noted. \u201cMemorial Day is also about me standing tall, me standing proud; tall and proud of the fact that the ones we honor today are my brothers, my sisters, my family.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also noted that Congress declared that the sacrifice of the nation\u2019s military veterans should be remembered at 3 p.m. on Memorial Day, and said he hoped that Van Wert area residents would take that time to remember those who sacrificed for Americans\u2019 freedom.<\/p>\n

Beck ended his speech with a quote from President John F. Kennedy:<\/p>\n

\u201cLet every nation know, whether it wishes us well, or wishes us ill, we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to ensure the survival and success of liberty.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following the traditional 21-gun salute to the dead and the playing of \u201cTaps\u201d, those who attended were invited to a luncheon at Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 5803 in Van Wert.<\/p>\n

In addition to the Van Wert Memorial Day service, veterans were also remembered during services in Ohio City, Convoy, Venedocia, Willshire, and Delphos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/independent editor Van Wert County veterans organizations remembered colleagues who made the ultimate sacrifice in the nation\u2019s military conflicts during Memorial Day services on Monday. Van Wert veterans and others gathered at Woodland Cemetery for a traditional service in memory of local soldiers who fell in battle. Following the invocation, Pat Freeman read off […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-05 17:51:51","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103206"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103206\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}