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Each year, as we prepare the newspaper and select the stories to include in the Memorial weekend edition, we are amazed by the tales of quiet bravery, often not shared until a veteran’s family encourages us to seek an interview with their loved one.
Often, as it happened in my family, a college project prompts a student to ask a relative for information and the veteran, not wanting to let down a relative, begins to tell the stories.
It’s not always easy.
There are tales of men who lost entire units but survived to continue to honor the memories of those who have fallen for the sake of our freedom.
There are quiet heroes, women and children who supported a war effort by taking care of households and working in farms and factories so their loved ones could fight for their country.
Today, so many families continue to sacrifice in ways large and small — and so many young men and women have been lost since the beginning of the first Gulf War and the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
We have the opportunity, in our small-town newspapers, to point to our friends and neighbors and say, “There is a hero.”
It is overwhelming to see the quiet grace with which our veterans carry their heroic stature. And on Memorial Day, there is nothing like watching onlookers clap, wave and shed tears as they watch the veterans in the parades. Some are in wheelchairs, some still carry flags and some are crying.
There are times, of course, when we feel rather small; we don’t carry the power of politicians and captains of industry. We are the people who quietly tuck away folded flags when we lose a loved one to a war. And in those moments, we can take some solace in knowing we are an integral part of the fabric of America.
We sacrifice.
And those called to duty simply answer.
When we interview our neighbors who have fought and been wounded, they say it is not a sacrifice, it is a privilege.
Our community papers also honor folks whose small gestures of remembrance unveil big hearts.
Such is the case with Allen Johnson and his friends, of Victor, who all year long provide and maintain proper graveside markers and American flags for local veterans in Boughton Hill, Victor Village and St. Patrick’s cemeteries. As reporter Melody Burri wrote:
“This year, 450 flags billow in the breeze, a proud reminder of sacrifice and service to country.”
So god bless those who fought, those who have died, those who support the troops.
And God bless all who remember.
Allison Coper is managing editor of Messenger Post Media.
Each year, as we prepare the newspaper and select the stories to include in the Memorial weekend edition, we are amazed by the tales of quiet bravery, often not shared until a veteran’s family encourages us to seek an interview with their loved one.
Often, as it happened in my family, a college project prompts a student to ask a relative for information and the veteran, not wanting to let down a relative, begins to tell the stories.
It’s not always easy.
There are tales of men who lost entire units but survived to continue to honor the memories of those who have fallen for the sake of our freedom.
There are quiet heroes, women and children who supported a war effort by taking care of households and working in farms and factories so their loved ones could fight for their country.
Today, so many families continue to sacrifice in ways large and small — and so many young men and women have been lost since the beginning of the first Gulf War and the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
We have the opportunity, in our small-town newspapers, to point to our friends and neighbors and say, “There is a hero.”
It is overwhelming to see the quiet grace with which our veterans carry their heroic stature. And on Memorial Day, there is nothing like watching onlookers clap, wave and shed tears as they watch the veterans in the parades. Some are in wheelchairs, some still carry flags and some are crying.
There are times, of course, when we feel rather small; we don’t carry the power of politicians and captains of industry. We are the people who quietly tuck away folded flags when we lose a loved one to a war. And in those moments, we can take some solace in knowing we are an integral part of the fabric of America.
We sacrifice.
And those called to duty simply answer.
When we interview our neighbors who have fought and been wounded, they say it is not a sacrifice, it is a privilege.
Our community papers also honor folks whose small gestures of remembrance unveil big hearts.
Such is the case with Allen Johnson and his friends, of Victor, who all year long provide and maintain proper graveside markers and American flags for local veterans in Boughton Hill, Victor Village and St. Patrick’s cemeteries. As reporter Melody Burri wrote:
“This year, 450 flags billow in the breeze, a proud reminder of sacrifice and service to country.”
So god bless those who fought, those who have died, those who support the troops.
And God bless all who remember.
Allison Coper is managing editor of Messenger Post Media.
