Air Force Academy – Past wars and aging veterans weren’t in the forefront of Ted Walter’s mind Monday.
It was the thought that his son Zachary, who is headed into the Marines, might someday be among the wounded or fallen.
“I try and put my bravest face on,” said Walter, referring to the possibility that Zachary, who is graduating from the Air Force Academy on Wednesday, will be shipped to Iraq in a few months. “If he should receive injuries or death, well, I don’t know. But he is following his heart and soul.”
Jena Burke, a 22-year-old senior taking part in the academy’s awards ceremony Monday, said she too is following her heart by becoming a pilot. But after days of being caught up in the chaos of graduation ceremonies and parties, the 21-gun salute on Memorial Day gave her a new perspective.
“It made me realize that I’m not so special,” she said. “I may be one of a long line of people who made the ultimate sacrifice protecting their country.”
The young cadets join the ranks of millions who have served before them both in battle and during peacetime.
During the Memorial Day service at Fort Logan National Cemetery in Denver, those veterans recalled their commitment to freedom and their dread when called to battle.
About 3,000 people gathered under gloomy skies for the annual service held at the edge of Veterans Lake under a flag flying at half-staff.
“Freedom is not free,” said U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar, who spoke at the memorial. “Freedom comes our way by the sacrifice of those who came before us.”
Memorial Day began on May 5, 1868, when Union veterans of the Civil War honored their fallen comrades by decorating their graves. It was called “Decoration Day.” Congress recognized it as Memorial Day in 1971.
Since the Revolutionary War, 1.2 million men and women have died in the U.S. military and 42.3 million people have served, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Viola Morgan was at Fort Logan to remember her husband, Philip Morgan, a Navy veteran who served in Korea. He died two months ago.
He didn’t talk much about his time at war, except to say he never forgot fishing bodies out of the sea, Morgan said. Still, her husband was a proud and patriotic veteran, she said.
“His greatest wish was to be buried in his uniform,” she said.
George Meschko, 80, who served in the Army Air Forces as a gunner on B-17s, came to honor all veterans, especially those who didn’t return.
“It touches an emotional nerve for your buddies,” he said about the service. “My buddies are buried over there (Europe).”
Richard Marin, 58, and Paul Bustam, 55, both Vietnam veterans, wore their military gear for the ceremony. Both had been honored with Purple Hearts.
“There is a price in every war,” Marin said. “The price is not just in the dead or casualties but also in the innocence lost and the lives that are changed forever.”
Staff writer Karen Crummy can be reached at 303-820-1594 or kcrummy@denverpost.com.
