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05/29/2007Honoring the FallenVeterans groups lead holiday observances
Lee Delancey wanders through 135 crosses representing Michigan servicemen and woman who have lost their lives in the Iraq war. The local Veterans for Peace Chapter 50 placed the crosses at the Open Space for Memorial Day. INTERLOCHEN — A small group of area residents stood in silent remembrance as Julia Deemer read aloud the names of about 60 soldiers buried at the Inland Township Cemetery along U.S. 31. The Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 7493 asked the Interlochen woman to help with the Memorial Day ceremony seven years ago, and Deemer has since made it an annual tradition. "My husband is buried here,” she said. "He served 22 years in the Air Force.” Roughly a dozen Interlochen VFW post members provided a color guard, spoke of the meaning of Memorial Day and read a short prayer at the cemetery before trekking to Mount Hope Cemetery and Green Lake Memorial Park to repeat the service. Post Commander Robert W. Garbacz hung a wreath adorned with red, white and blue flowers at the base of an American flag to conclude the ceremony at each location. Garbacz, a Vietnam veteran who has organized the event for several years, attended despite a persistent bout with bronchitis. "I feel like I owe it to the men who gave their lives. It's a small sacrifice,” he said with a cough. "A lot of young people don't know what this means.” Ron and Suzanne Redburn said they want to make sure their kids realize the importance of Memorial Day. The Grawn residents were at the cemetery Monday with their sons Blane, 8, Aaron, 12, and Ryan, 14. "We need to teach our children our past and why they have the freedoms we do,” Ron Redburn said. Betty Bush brought her family to the VFW's second service at Mount Hope Cemetery. Her husband, Norbert G. Bush, was a Korean War veteran and long-time member of the post before he died of cancer in 1991. "It is something he did and we just continued. You just don't forget,” Bush said after stopping at his gravestone. "This ceremony keeps going like a Timex watch.” In Traverse City, other veterans focused their attention on the casualties of the Iraq War. Several members of the Veterans for Peace Local Chapter 50 stood 135 small white crosses in the open space along Grandview Parkway — one for each Michigan soldier who has died in Iraq since the war began. Vietnam War veteran Rob Burnett handed out fliers about their organization to the hundreds of people who stopped to browse the names and titles on the crosses. "The other veterans groups go around to different cemeteries at different times, but this is more to make the public aware of the cost of war,” Burnett said. "We are against the war, but that's not what this is about. This is about honoring the sacrifices. Right there, each one of those crosses are a young man or woman who gave their life.” Army Spc. Sean Vanessen said came to the open space because the crosses are something that really hits home for him. He spent a year fighting in Iraq. "I pay my respects to all veterans ... but this is what affects me because I know what they went through and what sacrifices they made,” he said. "That's why I had to come here and pay respects to soldiers of this war.”
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