{"id":24882,"date":"2012-05-29T06:38:46","date_gmt":"2012-05-29T11:38:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/?p=24882"},"modified":"2012-05-30T14:59:29","modified_gmt":"2012-05-30T19:59:29","slug":"local-veterans-groups-honor-those-who-fell-in-battle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2012\/05\/29\/local-veterans-groups-honor-those-who-fell-in-battle\/","title":{"rendered":"Local veterans groups honor the fallen"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

\"\"<\/a>
Local soldiers Seth and Brock Blackmore place the wreath honoring those who gave their lives while in the military during a Memorial Day ceremony held at Woodland Cemetery on Monday. (photos by Dave Mosier\/Van Wert independent)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Local veterans groups and local residents didn\u2019t let the heat deter them as they turned out Monday to honor members of the military who gave their lives in service of their country.<\/p>\n

In Van Wert, veterans gathered for the traditional Memorial Day ceremony held at Woodland Cemetery. \u201cWe\u2019re here to honor the fallen heroes and also all the people who served to keep us free for our country,\u201d said Willie Eddins of American Legion Post 178, one of the organizations hosting the event.<\/p>\n

Pastor Steve Savage of Trinity Friends Church in Van Wert provided the Memorial Day message and continued the theme of honoring those who serve, instead of glorifying war.<\/p>\n

\u201cWar can be ugly, but duty can be beautiful,\u201d Pastor Savage said. \u201cI pray that America will long choose to glorify war less and to glorify the sacrifice of those who courageously serve more.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do not come today to extol the virtues and glories of war, we do not rattle sabers with bloodthirsty joy like some; we come today to mark and remember faithful servants who sacrificed much on behalf of their grateful nation,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The local minister noted that he has had the honor to visit presidential monuments, as well as war monuments and Arlington Cemetery, but added that, while some of those honor those who served \u201cwithout fanfare or fame,\u201d the common soldier is often forgotten.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026for most of those common soldiers, there is little to mark their resting places \u2026 no great monuments mark, no stony tower is often raised to their honor,\u201d Pastor Savage said. \u201cWhat marks their resting place is simply the task that they have faithfully done. The honor raised up to them is the continuance of our liberty and the freedom of our great nation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pastor Savage also quoted former President James Garfield, who said of soldiers: \u201cFor love of country, they accepted death.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Pastor Steve Savage speaks during Van Wert Memorial Day ceremonies at Woodland Cemetery.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He also quoted Thomas Campbell, who said \u201cthe patriot\u2019s blood is the seed of the tree of freedom\u2019s tree.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following Rev. Savage\u2019s talk, wreaths were placed to honor the dead, while an honors unit comprised of members of local veterans groups provided a 21-gun salute to those who sacrificed their lives for the nation.<\/p>\n

The Van Wert Brass Band provided patriotic musical selections for the ceremony, and also played \u201cTaps\u201d following the 21-gun salute.<\/p>\n

Dick Elder, chaplain of Legion Post 178, gave the benediction.<\/p>\n

A follow-up wreath-laying ceremony was held at Memorial Park on West Main Street, followed by lunch at Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 5803.<\/p>\n

Several other Memorial Day ceremonies were held, including those in Ohio City, Willshire and Convoy, including parades and other special activities (more photos will be in Thursday).<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/independent editor Local veterans groups and local residents didn\u2019t let the heat deter them as they turned out Monday to honor members of the military who gave their lives in service of their country. In Van Wert, veterans gathered for the traditional Memorial Day ceremony held at Woodland Cemetery. \u201cWe\u2019re here to honor the […]<\/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-24882","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-23 03:35:48","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\/24882","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=24882"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24882\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24882"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24882"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24882"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}