Local Memorial Day observance honors the sacrifices made by our veterans
Kenny Fogle presents the Colors during Monday’s observance of Memorial Day at the Bardstown Cemetery. The observance was sponsored by American Legion Posts 121 and 167. Click to enlarge.
By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette / WBRT Radio
Monday, May 26, 2014, 4:30 p.m. — About one hundred people gathered around the gazebo in the Bardstown Cemetery Memorial Day morning to remember the men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of our country.
The annual event, sponsored by American Legion Posts 121 and 167, shifts the focus from the weekend’s status as the unofficial start of summer to one of solemn reverence in memory of those who died in the service of our country.
Guest speaker Travis Adams, a 2004 Bethlehem High School graduate and former sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps., underscored the importance of remembering the real meaning of Memorial Day.
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“Memorial Day’s commercial value has outstripped its original meaning,” Adams told the crowd. And while he doesn’t mind its association as the start of summer, “I hope that everyone is able to take a moment and reflect on its true meaning.”
Photography cannot capture the meaning and impact of past wars and conflicts to those who served and survived, he explained. “For me and those of us here, Memorial Day isn’t just a history lesson that’s quickly forgotten. For us its the father, the mother, the sister, the brother, the son, the daughter, the husband, the wife or the pal who never came home.”
Guest speaker Travis Adams of Bardstown, a former Marine sergeant who served two tours of duty in Afghanistan, spoke on the true meaning of Memorial Day. Click to enlarge.
Speaking to fellow war survivors, Adams noted that he and many of them would not be here today were it not for a quirk of fate that allows us and our brothers to survive a war and return home.
He recounted losses of past wars, and the impact they had on their respective generations by robbing them of the legacy the war dead would have created. One can only wonder many would of them would have fathered children who would become the geniuses, creators, liberators, scientists or statesmen of their generation.
Adams called on those in attendance “to take a moment to remember who it was who paid the sacrifices to protect our country, our freedom and our everyday lives.”
Prior to reading a list of American Legion members who had died in the past year, Post 121 Chaplain Jim Guest noted that the individual losses were more than just names.
A crowd of about 100 gathered Monday morning for the observance in the Bardstown Cemetery. Click to enlarge.
“When we lose a Legionnaire, we lose in three different categories,” he said. “First, we lose a friend. We lose a Legionnaire, and we lose a little piece of history.”
Each of the members of the American Legion played their part in serving their country, Guest told the crowd, adding “While they might not have died on a field of battle, they stood shoulder to shoulder to protect our country. We can never do enough to honor them or repay our debt to them.”
Kenny Fogle, Post 121’s special events coordinator was again the organizer of the event. The annual ceremony dates back to 1988, when both posts worked to find a way to honor and commemorate the lives and sacrifices of the community’s veterans.
The Rev. Chris Rhodes, associate pastor at the Basilica of St. Joseph Proto-Cathedral and a National Guard chaplain, closed the ceremony with a prayer and sang “God Bless America.”
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