Area residents paused to honor military men and women who died while serving the country during Memorial Day activities.
Emporia had its traditional service at the All Veterans Memorial on Monday. Retired Colonel Fran Oleen spoke of her family’s experience in the military.
Oleen used the stories of four military staffers, including Emporia’s Grant Timmerman, who were killed either in the line of duty or killed while helping others live in non-military settings. Timmerman was killed in action in late June 1944 in Saipan in the Northern Mariana Islands. Timmerman was letting nearby US troops know of immediate plans to fire a 75-mm gun when a Japanese grenade came towards the open turret. Timmerman covered the opening with his body, with the grenade exploding on his chest. Nobody else in the crew was killed.
Oleen says some military personnel who died in action “performed heroic acts, but all are heroes.”
Master of Ceremonies Ashley Mitchell says the soldiers honored on Memorial Day represent the best of America.
Besides the national anthem and pledge of allegiance, the event also included a memorial roll call for veterans lost over the last 12 months.
The service also included Taps and a gun salute.
Also, there was a brief review of the All Veterans Memorial property, now into its 35th year, and an update on the memorial’s Tablets of Honor project from veteran Frank Lowery.
Memorial Day evolved out of Decoration Day, established in the late 1860s after the conclusion of the Civil War. Initially, the focus of Decoration Day was strictly the Civil War, but that expanded gradually after World War I. Decoration Day officially became Memorial Day in 1971.
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