Community honors fallen on Memorial Day

A young private in the Marine Corps, Robert C. Burke and his unit walked into an ambush in the tall grass and woods on Go Noi Island in Vietnam.

As artillery fire from heavy mortars rained down the unit, Burke's captain and several platoon leaders were killed. Realizing that key points of resistance had to be taken out for the unit to advance, Burke grabbed his machine gun and launched a series of one-man assaults against several enemy fortifications, killing three North Vietnamese soldiers.

When his machine gun jammed, Burke grabbed a rifle and several hand grenades and continued his efforts to quiet the hostile fire, killing several more North Vietnamese soldiers.

"He laid down a heavy line of fire along the trees until his injuries got the best of him," Bryan Hult, a retired U.S. Army brigadier general and Bonner County Veterans Services officer, told those gathered for Memorial Day services at Pinecrest and Lakeview cemeteries on Monday. "He died where he fell. Fifteen other men died, 50 were injured. Burke's heroic actions saved the lives of many more. He was 18 years old. He was the youngest person from the Vietnam era to win the Medal of Honor."

But why talk about death on the battlefield?

"Unless we talk about it, we will forget," Hult told the several dozen gathered at each of the cemeteries. "Unless we talk about it, we will not prepare. Unless we talk about it, young men and women will not realize the importance of the freedom that we enjoy today. And that freedom has a great cost."

Memorial Day is thought to have originated in June 1861 when the residents of Warrenton, Virginia, went out and laid flowers on the graves of loved ones lost in a Civil War battle. A few years later, after the battle of Gettysburg, similar tributes were made in the North, beginning a longstanding tradition where on May 30, Hult said the country paused to pay homage to those who died in service to their country.

Somber tributes, the posts would march the local cemeteries to decorate the graves of the fallen. The simple and subdued services would offer prayers, short, patriotic speeches and music before ending in a rifle salute.

While now held on the last Monday of May, Hult said the tributes are much the same.

"Today, we don't come to laugh. We don't come to be amused. We don't come to be entertained or even a cheer on a political candidate," Hult told those gathered. "We come to remember so that future generations do not forget what it took to enjoy the freedoms that we enjoy today. We all realize that we bleed the same color blood, we all realize that we are one race — the human race. We all realize that freedom doesn't come from politics, it comes from those who wear the sacred cloth, the military uniform, and those who die in it, for those that have the flag draped over them. Today, we thank those who have gone before."

Like those who joined the military before him, Hult said he also chose to serve, to defend the country's freedoms and way of life. However, it wasn't until he was as senior in college in 1977 and his then-fiancé asked why he'd never served in the military that he gave it much thought. Within a few weeks, Hult had enlisted and within six months was in boot camp at Fort Leonard Wood.

While he didn't know what lay ahead, Hult said he did know two things: that serving in the military was a noble profession and that he owed a debt to those who had gone before. He still recalls, he said, walking past World War II-era barracks at Fort Benning, Georgia, with slogans painted on the side. One in particular stands fresh: "To those who have fought for it, freedom has a flavor the protected will never know."

Honor those men and women, give them space, give them time, and give them compassion and honor, Hult said.

"We come for many reasons, but mostly to remember their sacrifice," he added.

Without the sacrifices of those who served, the nation would not be the republic is remains today, Hult said.

"If you see a veteran, thank them for their service," he added. "If you are a veteran, thank you for your service.

Those sentiments were echoed by members of the Daughters of the American Revolution, who also urged those gathered to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice, and to honor the price they paid to keep this country free.

"It's important to talk about it and we need to make sure that the younger generations don't forget, that they learn," a DAR member said. "We know that by the sacrifice that these men and women, our country has been protected and we've been a light to the world."