Online Video Network
|
|
|
Local News
Auditor requests tax budgets
May 20, 2009 at 12:24 pm
Editor’s note: The following article about Marysville’s Memorial Day activities was submitted by retired U.S. Army Major Gen. Oscar Decker, chairman of the Marysville Memorial Day Committee.
–––
Service and sacrifice; an enduring legacy
As you plan your daily activities for Monday, May 25, Memorial Day, remember why it is a day of remembrance. It is a special day to celebrate the memory of our honored dead and what they did for our country and our freedoms, and to express our thanks to family members who have mourned for them.
In addition to the ceremony at Oakdale Cemetery, you might want to visit the Veterans Monument at Fifth and Court streets and think about its historical significance. The back of the monument reminds us that freedom is never really free. The names of more than 622 Union County veterans who were killed in action or died during wartime are engraved on the back of the Veterans Monument dedicated on Armed Forces Day in 2007 at the Plaza on the Courthouse lawn. One hundred seventy-five were prisoners of war.
As we remember and honor the past, we need to also remember that many of Union County’s own have been on active duty during the past several years, and others are on duty today. Some of them have been deployed several times in the Global War on Terror. They are standing in for us in the defense of freedom. They need our support and encouragement. Our military personnel and their families know that freedom has a price, and we need to recognize and remember them for the price they pay!
Memorial Day activity in Marysville will begin on Sunday, May 24 at 7:30 p.m. with a short ceremony at the Veterans Monument and Plaza.
An added Sunday evening event will be at the Houston House from 6 to 9 p.m. It is a free showing of “The Windows of War” (Afghanistan and Iraq) on canvass and other media done by Sgt. Shawn McMahon who is from Union County. Cookies and punch will be served there.
Marysville Memorial Day activities on Monday, May 25 are planned as follows:
9 a.m. - North Main Street Bridge to honor the dead lost at sea. Pastor Jack Heino, outreach pastor, St. John’s Lutheran Church, will be the chaplain. Elizabeth Ward and Scott Underwood will play the Navy hymn. Attendees will be asked to join in singing led by the Rev. John Groat. You are invited to come and pay your respects and add your voices.
9:30 a.m. - Parade forms starting at 8:30 on Plum Street at Fifth Street and will proceed up Fifth Street to Oakdale Cemetery beginning at 9:30. In case of inclement weather, the route will be shortened to go to the Veterans’ Auditorium on Sixth Street where the ceremony will be conducted. Parade marshal will be Maj. Gen. Gregory Wayt, The Adjutant General, Ohio National Guard. The Marysville High School Band will provide music in the parade and at Oakdale. Organizations desiring to join the parade may contact VFW Post 3320, which sponsors the parade. Individuals are encouraged to participate. American Legion Post 79 members and scouts will hand out flags to the children at the parade. Please encourage your children to stand proudly when the flag of our great country passes by and place their right hand over their heart to show proper respect.
10 a.m. - Ceremonies at Oakdale Cemetery (Veterans’ Auditorium on Sixth Street if inclement weather). The Marysville Middle School Band will give a pre-ceremony concert at Oakdale beginning at 9:30 a.m., and the combined bands will play during the ceremony. Lawn chairs are appropriate for additional seating.
Wayt will be the guest speaker. Honored guests will be our former prisoners of war, Gulf War/Anti-terrorism veterans, military families, and current and past non-commissioned officers.
Pastor Heino, sheriff’s chaplain, graduated from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis in 1988 and moved to his first church in Red Lake Ontario, where he was a “starter” for many community activities, in addition to learning to live in the extreme cold. In 1995 he joined the Marysville community as outreach pastor at St. John’s Lutheran Church, with the mission of organizing and starting a contemporary church service. That service has continued with great success, and he has many other new starts to his credit in the community, including being a very active chaplain for the sheriff’s department.
Wayt has been the Adjutant General, Joint Force Headquarters – Ohio, since July 1, 2004. He is a member of the governor’s cabinet and is responsible for the command of the Ohio National Guard and the military readiness of the Ohio Militia. The Ohio National Guard consists of the Ohio Army National Guard, Ohio Air National Guard, Ohio Military Reserve and the Ohio Naval militia, totaling more than 16,000 personnel. Gen. Wayt supervises four flag officers who head these components and four deputy directors in the day-to-day operation and management of their readiness, fiscal, personnel, equipment and real property resources. Union County is fortunate to have two National Guard units in Marysville’s new Armory — C Company 174th Air Defense Artillery Battery and the 585th Military Police Company.
Wayt’s military career began in 1975. He graduated from Ohio State University Reserve Officer Training Corps as a Distinguished Military Graduate and received a Regular Army commission in 1975 as an air defense artillery officer. He has commanded and has held staff officer assignments at all levels from battery, battalion, group, regiment, brigade and Joint Force Headquarters.
His latest challenge, having the responsibility for all Ohio military personnel in the Ohio National Guard, is undoubtedly one of his greatest challenges, and accomplishments, especially as they deploy. He is very strong in his feelings about their well-being and visits them overseas periodically. He is also focused on the families left behind at deployment and for providing assistance to them. Wayt has expanded the office and mission for unit family readiness. He and his people have organized it better than any other state that we know of. Families are very important to the total effort of our troops. The Ohio National Guard does an outstanding job of supporting units and families before, during and after deployment. Their family readiness offices work with all services and the Reserves, not just the National Guard. Our local Union County Military Family Support Group gains support from the activities of the Ohio National Guard Family Readiness Office.
The Memorial Day Committee is pleased to again have two outstanding local high school students participate in the ceremonies — Oliver Pontius and Tawni Lister. Oliver is a sophomore at Fairbanks High School. He is the son of Stephen and Kathy Pontius of Milford Center. He enjoys playing saxophone in the Fairbanks Band and piano in a variety of settings. He is teaching piano to elementary school students as part of the Panther Paws Latchkey Program, is a member of Boy Scout Troop 158, the National Honor Society and the Middleburg United Methodist Church. Oliver was a winner in the VFW Voice of Democracy contest.
Tawni Leilana Lister is a junior at Marysville High School. She was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, where her father, Kevin Lister, was stationed for four years in the Coast Guard. She grew up in various states on naval bases. She moved to Marysville four years ago with her mother, Kelly Lister, and step-father Marc Edmonson. Tawni has three brothers. She enjoys playing sports and being active. Her hobbies include hiking, painting and reading. She has a great interest in government and politics, as well as literature and art. Tawni will be attending Buckeye Girls State in the summer. After high school she intends to go to a four-year college through an ROTC program and join the military on conclusion. She states that she has been raised with a profound respect for her country and the brave men and women who fight and have fought to defend not only her freedom but others’ freedom as well.
Tawni’s family is truly a military family. They have always been involved in the military, from George Gall Junior who served in the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War; John Wilson McDaniel who was in the Army Medical Corps with the second wave that stormed the beach of Normandy in 1944; Lowen Gall who served in the Army during Pearl Harbor; Terry Kerr who was recently in the Air Force refueling fighter jets in Iraq; Tawni’s grandfathers, Richard Lister, a colonel in the Marine Corps, and Raymond Gall who served in the Army during the Korean War; her father, Kevin Lister, who served in the Coast Guard; and her stepfather, Marc Edmonson, who served in the Navy.
“I am honored to say that I am a part of my family and I am more proud of them than I can possibly express,” Tawni stated.
Wreaths will be presented to honor the veterans of the major wars in which the U.S. has been involved. The VFW sponsored Honor Guard will provide military honors. Following the ceremony at Oakdale Cemetery, there will be short services at the Catholic and Amrine Cemeteries conducted by the VFW and American Legion respectively, and the flag will be raised to full staff at the Veterans Memorial Plaza. There will also be a ceremony at VFW Post 3320 following the cemetery ceremonies.
Marysville Memorial Day ceremonies are sponsored by the Memorial Day Committee with representatives of American Legion Post 79, Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3320, Disabled American Veterans Chapter 55, Blue Star Mothers Chapter 41, Hanna Emerson Dustin Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and American Veterans Post 28.
|
For the full story, Click here for our E-edition.
Back to News
|
|
