Honoring the fallen
By Steve Herring
Published in News on May 25, 2015 1:46 PM
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Bill Manual, left, salutes, and Mount Olive Town Commissioner Joe Scott, right, places his hand over his heart during the presentation of colors by the Southern Wayne High School Junior ROTC Color Guard during the town's Sunday afternoon Memorial Day observance.
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News-Argus/STEVE HERRING
Members of the Mar-Mac Fire Department Honor Guard conduct the wreath-laying ceremony.
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News-Argus/STEVE HERRING
Mount Olive VFW Post 9959 Commander Ray Harrell salutes the American flag during the presentation of colors by the Southern Wayne High School Junior ROTC Color Guard during Sunday afternoon's Memorial Day observance.
MOUNT OLIVE -- Memorial Day was not established to mark the start of summer, and any nation that forgets those who have served and died defending it will be forgotten itself.
That was the message Sunday afternoon of Marine Corps League chaplain Bill Boyd of Goldsboro who was the keynote speaker for Sunday's Memorial Day ceremony.
Nearly 50 people, a few huddled under umbrellas to avoid the hot afternoon sun, attended the annual event sponsored by VFW Post 9959 and American Legion Post 103.
Normally held in Maplewood Cemetery, the ceremony was held instead for the first time at the town's new Veterans Memorial on West Main Street.
The Rev. John Harrington and Post 103 Commander Zoe Mossberg conducted a Post Everlasting ceremony remembering members who have died during the past year.
The ceremony is a symbolic transfer of the veteran's membership from the post to Post Everlasting, which is considered heaven.
American flags and Post Everlasting certificates were presented to the families of the late Ralph J. Britt, U.S. Air Force, World War II and George Kornegay, U.S. Army, Korea.
The Mar-Mac Fire Department Honor Guard conducted a wreath-laying ceremony and lowered the flag to half staff.
Taps was played by Cindy Grant, Southern Wayne High School band director.
There are almost as many different origin stories for Memorial Day as there have been observances, Boyd said. One of the first was in 1783 after America had won its independence.
"They decided they were going to remember those who died to purchase our independence from Great Britain," Boyd said. "Now that day was called a 'Great Jubilee Day.' By the time the Civil War came around both the Union forces and the Confederate forces had a practice of putting flowers on the graves of their fallen.
"They called it 'Decoration Day.' It was first-called Memorial Day in 1882. We can go into the history of this thing, this great American celebration. But it is not as important to us as preserving the true meaning of the day. Let's keep it focused on the dead who made this county great -- those who died in combat in the war."
It should be focused as well on those who served and lived a long life afterward and then went on to their reward, Boyd said.
All of them need to be remembered, he said.
Following World War I, President Calvin Coolidge proclaimed Memorial Day.
"He said that the nation which forgets its defenders will itself be forgotten," Boyd said. "Folks if we cease to honor the defenders of this nation, this nation will be history. It will cease to exist.
"We must remember it. We must remember for what it was intended to be."