MOUNT VERNON — A small but reverent crowd gathered Monday morning at Mound View Cemetery to honor the Americans who have died in military service, a tradition rooted in the nation’s earliest observances after the Civil War.
The ceremony blended prayer, patriotic music, Scripture, and personal testimony. It reminded attendees that freedom endures only because others were willing to sacrifice everything.
Most of all, it spoke of the need to remember, both those who gave their life in military service and the families who lost their loved one.
“We gather here today by choice. Not because we are ordered. We gather because we have the freedom to choose. We choose to remember and celebrate these heroes who sacrificed for our country,” said Chaplain Doug Pummell, U.S. Air Force.
“Reflect on their sacrifice. … But we also celebrate. We tell stories of a life well lived, and we feel the joy of their lives. We celebrate and show gratitude for the freedoms we have because of their lives, because of their choice, because of their effort, their work.”
Chaplain Samuel Finneran, Mount Vernon Baptist Temple pastor, noted Memorial Day is a solemn occasion because it asks us to be intentional in remembering those who never got to come home, raise children, or grow old.
“That’s why these kind of gatherings are important. Not because it’s a national tradition. But because without their willingness to sacrifice everything for us, we wouldn’t have the freedoms that we enjoy today.
“Every one of these memorials, flags, flowers … is a reminder that behind every grave marker is a life. Behind every grave marker is a story, a family. Someone who loved their country deeply and was willing to give their lives for it. That sacrifice should never be forgotten.”
Freedom is a fragile thing
Chaplain Bruce Butler, U.S. Army, said Memorial Day matters because it serves as a reminder that freedom is a fragile thing maintained through the continuous sacrifice, service, and courage of individuals who paid the ultimate price.
He recalled his cousin, Richard Lewis Still, who died while serving in Vietnam, and his aunt’s story of the day the U.S. Jeep arrived at her workplace to give her the news of her son.
“He left Ohio State University to serve… he didn’t have to go, but he said he didn’t want that on his conscience, saying he didn’t go. And he went and he served and he died,” Butler said, holding a box containing Still’s name tag and a Vietnam coin Still had given him.
Chaplain Lucian Baker, U.S. Navy, focused on Deuteronomy 4 where it says “take heed to yourself and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things which your eyes have seen.”
“The word memorial comes from a word that means to prick or to pierce or to penetrate the memory,” Baker, a former Navy corpsman, said.
He described the day Vietnam “pierced” his memory forever.
“One moment I was like every other sailor … but on that day, everything changed. What I saw that day is forever with me and forever before my heart,” he said.
Baker said he always boasted that he did not lose any soldiers as he shepherded them from one station to another.
He later discovered that one of those soldiers—Rasmussen— ultimately died and is now memorialized on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall.
“I just stood there and wept,” he said. “Because one of my greatest accomplishments did not make it.”
No one to feed the gulls
Baker recounted the story of Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker, who with his B-17 crew went down over in the South Pacific in 1942. After eight days, with the crew facing starvation, a sea gull landed on Rickenbacker’s head.
The captain caught it, and it became food for him and his crew.
“The survivors were sustained and their hopes renewed because a lone seagull, uncharacteristically hundreds of miles from land, offered itself as a sacrifice, so he never forgot,” Baker related.
Every Friday night until his death in 1973, Rickenbacker walked a lonely stretch of Florida sea coast and fed shrimp to the seagulls to remember that day.
“After Eddie died, there was nobody to feed the seagulls every Friday. His children didn’t. Neither did his grandchildren. You see, our memories fade without memorials,” Baker said.
“God bless you all for being here because you say I have not forgotten.”
Chaplain Jerry Scott referenced God’s commandment to love one another.
“In the book of John we read, greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. So many have done this for you and me,” he said.
“Throughout this country, others are remembering what the military has done for us, ensuring our freedom. Never, never let us forget what God has given us.”
Chaplain Bob Durbin, USAF, gave thanks for the men and women whose courage, sacrifice, and devotion to protect freedoms we cherish each day led to losing their life.
He also asked for peace and comfort for the families who carry the weight of loss, saying, “May we never forget the cost of liberty or take for granted the blessings secured through sacrifice.”
Rebecca Abbott sang My Country Tis of Thee and the second verse of the Star Spangled Banner.
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