A modest crowd gathered Friday morning at Foundation Meadows on Valparaiso’s north side to honor the city’s veterans who have fallen in the line of duty since World War I.
The Valpo Parks Foundation sponsors the event twice a year, the Friday before Memorial Day and again for Veterans Day.
“Veterans Day in November was well-attended, but this was not as well attended as it was in the past,” said Daughters of the American Revolution William Henry Harrison Chapter member Margaret McGriff, of Valparaiso.
The 22nd annual solemn ceremony included the presenting of the colors by the Valparaiso Police Department and Fire Department Honor Guard followed by “The National Anthem” played by the South Shore Brass Band.
Valparaiso Mayor Jon Costas told the audience that Memorial Day calls upon people to honor the sacrifice of their neighbors and countrymen, including those they did not know.
He also acknowledged police, fire, emergency responders and caregivers who serve the city every day. “I see you and I’m grateful to you,” he said.
He spoke of a conversation he had at a recent football game with a dad who described himself as a former Marine.
“There are no former Marines and there are no former veterans,” he said. “Valparaiso is grateful for their service and their sacrifice.”
U.S. Army veteran and Valparaiso resident Michael Thomas, a founding member and senior vice commander of Porter County’s Disabled American Veterans Chapter 102 which is 700 members strong, told the crowd Memorial Day is about both grief and celebration.
“Let us remember their families, their loved ones, and the profound impact their loss has had on our community,” he said of the county’s fallen veterans.
He asked the audience to commit to supporting these families. “Work to ensure they receive the care and support they deserve,” Thomas said.
As is done at every bi-annual event, the names of the 165 veterans engraved on the black granite Duty and Service Wall were read aloud. U.S. Army veteran Doug Pierce, 81, has read a portion of the names every year since the memorial opened.
“I had a different feeling this last time I did this,” he said. “I started feeling like these people were family.”
Pierce said this led him to wonder what the people behind the names would have done in the community if they had lived. After the reading of the names concluded the band played “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” while wreaths were laid by the DAR, Costas and Thomas.
A benediction was given and Porter County Deputy Prosecutor Chris Hammer played “Taps” before the Retirement of the Colors.
Vietnam veteran Ralph Schultz served in the U.S. Army’s First Infantry Division in a 42-inch mortar platoon in Dian, Vietnam. The Kouts resident said his job was to plot where rounds would be shot.
He particularly thinks of those he served with “today and Veterans Day” and said he attended out of respect for those who have fallen.
Shelley Jones is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
