MEMORIAL DAY SERVICE ADDRESS
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Augusta Cemetery

Given by E. LEROY VANHORN

---

Today we gather to memorialize those that paid the ultimate sacrifice to protect our Homeland and our Freedom.

In 1868 the first service to honor our heroes was held at Gettysburg, PA – The message delivered by General Logan said in part:

“Cherish tenderly the memories of our dead who made their breast a barricade between our country and its foes.”

In the Revolutionary War more than 25,000 lost their lives.  In the Civil War nearly 600,000 gave their lives.  In World War I 58,480 died, and in World War II over 400,000 made the sacrifice.  The Korean Conflict, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and places unknown to a lot of us, men and women are continuing to use their chests as the protection for our freedom.

Here today we bring to mind the names of two men who have in the past been recognized as having protected US during the Civil War – (1) John L. Dumbleton, the son of John and Sarah Rowley Dumbleton.  John was a member of Co. F, 126 Regt, OVI.  John was killed in action at the Battle of Wilderness of May 6, 1864.  His exact place of interment is in question.  A marker in memory of John was installed in Augusta Cemetery by his parents.  (2) Arthur L. Ball, the son of Thomas and Margaret Arthur Ball.  Arthur died on December 8, 1862 at the age of 16 years 11 months and 13 days – not yet a man.

As we strive to continue to remember those that gave us their ultimate, we must not forget those that served us so gallantly.

Today we add to the list of those we honor here.  Simon Sheckler has been added to the Honor List of the Augusta Cemetery.  Simon was buried here in 1837 after having served in the War of 1812.  It was unknown until recently that Simon was a war hero and was denied the honor of having an American Flag marking his resting place.  Today that error has been corrected and will from this day forward be among those that are held here in the highest esteem.

In 1776 at the end of the Declaration of Independence, our founding fathers said, in part:

“. . . We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with. . . rights. . .(of) life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. . . .”

Those that gave up their homes, their families and a way of life that was comfortable to them, never got to realize the freedoms they preserved for the rest of us.

During the Revolutionary War the Stars and Strips flew high as a symbol of Freedom and provided inspiration as Francis Scott Key penned the words of the Star Spangled Banner.  And while we remember so vividly the first verse, it is the fourth verse that I believe honors the soldiers who fought so bravely for that flag and who stand ready to defend it today should the nation call for their service:

“O! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war’s desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav’n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto:  ‘In God is our trust.’
And the Star-Spangled Banner in triumph shall wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!”

At the memorial service at Gettysburg, toward the end of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln focused his words on the loss of life that the Civil War cost and the much higher cause for which those lives were spent.  Those words still ring just as loud today as they did in 1864:

“. . .that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to the cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion. . . that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that the government of the people, by the people, for the people. . .shall not perish from the earth”

On this day that we set aside for the honoring of those that served so gallantly, regardless of which war, which conflict, which century, there is one that stands out to me the most.  At the age of seventeen Raymond left his family and enlisted in the United States Army.  He was almost immediately sent to Germany and celebrated his eighteenth birthday there.  After the end of the First World War, Raymond remained in the service and was still serving in Europe when the United States went to war again, serving through the entire length of the Second World War.  Raymond never married or felt he needed a life other than serving his Country.  After serving in the Korean Conflict, Raymond called an end to the military career in early 1950 after having served forty-two years as an American Soldier.  Raymond was not a ranking officer.  He was not a hero in the eyes of most that knew him, nor was he anyone special to those that he served with.  Raymond was my father’s brother, having been born on February 1, 1901 in New Athens, Ohio, John Raymond VanHorn.

There are many people like Uncle Raymond.  You know some of them.  Today take a moment to reflect the sacrifices that they made for the rest of us.

From a speech delivered by Oliver Wendell Holmes on Memorial Day 1884:

“It is not of the dead alone that we think on this day.  There are those still living whose sex forbade them to offer their lives, but who gave instead their happiness.  Which of us has not been lifted above himself by the sight of one of those lovely, lonely women, around whom the wand of sorrow has traced its excluding circle. . . set apart, even when surrounded by loving friends who would fain bring back joy to their lives?  I think of one whom the poor of a great city know as their benefactress and friend.  I think of one who has lived less greatly in the midst of her children, to whom she has taught lessons as may not be heard elsewhere from mortal lips.  The story of those and her sisters, we must pass in reverent silence.  All that may be said has been said by one of their own sex:

“But when the days of golden dreams had perished,
and even despair was powerless to destroy,
then did I learn how existence could be cherished,
strengthened, and fed without the aid of joy.
Then did I check the tears of useless passion,
weaned my young soul from yearning after thine
Sternly denied its burning wish to hasten
Down to that tomb already more than mine.”

Walt Whitman watched soldiers on both sides during the Civil War as they all fought for their beliefs and suffered the pain, tragedy and death of war.  Whitman expressed that the truth of the real mechanics and loss of war cannot be truly realized by us today.  None but the soldier can really know the pain and agony that our fighting forces experience during battle:

“Future years will never know the seething hell and the black infernal background of . . . the. . .war.  The real war will never get in the books.”

Jon VanHorn lost his life in 1644 defending his home on what is now Manhattan Island, New York.  My Great-Great-Great Grandfather, George Brokaw, served as a scout in the Pittsburgh, PA area during the Revolutionary War, and my Great Grandfather, Wesley VanHorn, served as a medic in the Civil War.  His brother, Samuel VanHorn, was held prisoner and died at Andersonville Prison Camp.

My mother’s father, Eber Raber, left his way of life and his family forever when he left the Amish Church and enlisted in the Army during World War I.  His son, my mother’s brother, Sam, gave his life during the Second World War, while service in the South Pacific.

The Freedoms that were defined in the Declaration of Independence were made possible by those individuals who were willing to lay down their lives for the pursuit of freedom and the belief that liberty was a right of all men.

During the Civil War, President Lincoln’s Proclamation that . . . inspired those whose freedoms were stolen from them and by the end of the war more than 200,000 black soldiers and sailors had joined to fight for a future that they believed was possible.  And many times since then our freedom has been guaranteed by the resolve of the Armed Forces who have refused to turn from the foes of liberty that would set themselves against this nation, its allies and the foundation of Godly principles upon which it stands.

Harry Truman once said:

“I think I know the American Soldier. . . He does not want gratitude or sympathy.  He had a job to do.  He did not like it.  But he did it.  And how he did it!  Now he wants to come back home and start again the life he loved. . . .”

I would like to finish with this thought:  The men and women who serve, and who have served, in the Armed Forces are no less committed to protecting our Nation than were the men who signed the Declaration of Independence.  Their final words declare that:

“. . .For the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.”

To John Dumbleton, Arthur Ball and Simon Sheckler – we salute you as well as every man, woman and child that has given of their time and their lives that we may enjoy the freedom of the Greatest Nation on the face of this earth.

May God Bless us all.