Bloomington Memorial Day event: 'Making sure no one forgets the sacrifices made'
It's the Wednesday before Memorial Day weekend and the serene vistas at Bloomington's Valhalla Memory Gardens are being dolled up, transformed.
A man on a wide-deck riding mower deftly maneuvers around tombstones, some dating back nearly a century. Beyond the overhead archway leading into the the Jewish section, a caretaker wielding a weed-eater levels tall grass. Two men in a white work truck erect American flags on tall poles; a few dozen soon line the asphalt driveway at the cemetery entrance. Visitors park just off the road throughout the graveyard, removing flower arrangements and ornate wreaths from the trunks of cars, placing them just right. A newly dug grave beneath a canvas canopy in the distance stands as a reminder that in this place, grief is always nigh.
Joe Hardin sits on a polished granite bench under a shade tree near the cemetery's veterans' memorial and next to the grave of Danny Bill Callahan, who served in the U.S. Army; a "loving husband, father and grandfather," his military marker says. He was born Nov. 7, 1943, and died Feb. 8, 2017.
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On being a Vietnam veteran
Hardin is a veteran, too. He joined the U.S. Navy when he was 17, serving from 1961 to 1965. He was among the first U.S. soldiers stationed in Vietnam, and worked as a communications radioman with a top-secret clearance.
He was proud of serving his country when he left the Navy, but the pride faded as he and others returning from military service during the Vietnam War era encountered opposition and anger at home. Hardin recalled a woman shouting him down on a bus in San Francisco when he was in uniform. He asked the driver to stop so he could walk away.
He said that back then, older members of military service groups like the Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion didn't initially welcome Vietnam vets into their ranks. "They wanted us to bring up their numbers, and to pay the dues, but they didn't want us involved," Hardin said.
He packed his dress whites and his military service away. "I didn't want people to know where I'd been."
A home at the Bloomington VFW
Three decades passed. Then in 1999, he walked into Bloomington's VFW Post 604. Having served in a war on foreign soil, he qualified for membership. And found camraderie after all those years.
"The World War II and Korean War vets were dying off and suddenly it was the Vietnam guys running the post," he said. Attitudes and reality had changed over time.
"We decided nobody would be treated the way we were treated, that we'd make everyone feel welcome when they came back home," Hardin said.
Veterans returning from the unpopular war in the Middle East sometimes faced the kind of public anger and backlash Vietnam vets had experienced decades earlier.
"I knew what military guys and ladies went through and I wanted to make sure that didn't happen, not to anyone else," he said.
VFW members welcomed the Gulf War soldiers back and offered a free one-year VFW membership. "They could see if they liked us if they want to be part of us. Now, they have families and work full time, but they come to the post and hang out with us."
These days, those members slated as the VFW's next leaders as Hardin and his Vietnam brethren transition to the old guard.
'Commander emeritus'
Not that Hardin is stepping back from his duties. He was VFW Post 604's longest serving commander, in that role from 2004 to 2012. He's held other positions as well. "The call me 'commander emeritus' because I've been around for so long."
Seventeen years ago, the man who oversaw the VFW's annual Memorial Day ceremony decided to end the tradition. Hardin wouldn't hear of it, and took over. "From then on, it was mine," he said.
The event started out small, under a lone tent with people sitting on the grass. "I was the one who was the keynote speaker," he recalled.
It grew over time. Before the pandemic, several hundred people would attend the 10 a.m. ceremony held on Monday, the official holiday that commemorates American soldiers who died in war.
"I look forward every year to making sure no one forgets the sacrifices made for this county and for people around the world," Hardin said. "It's something I need to do."
He hopes for a big turnout this year; the weather report is favorable, he said, and people might want to venture out on a spring morning to pay their respects.
The Southern Indiana Pipe and Drum Corps, the Bloomington Community Band and Daniel Narducci will perform. The cemetery provides bottled water, lemonade and 20 dozen doughnuts. Bring a lawn chair, Hardin said.
Hundreds of flags on two-foot-tall wooden sticks will flutter in the wind all around. They're among several thousand that VFW and other veterans' group volunteers place all around Monroe County on graves of those who served their county.
Memorial site honors veterans
The service is at the cemetery's Veterans' Memorial, which was designed by Hardin, financed by an anonymous donor and built in phases over the past eight years.
The $1 million site features a plaza, benches and an Italian marble columbarium to inter ashes of veterans and their spouses. Veteran graveside services are often held there. The walkway leading to the monument is wide enough for a casket with pall bearers on each side to pass.
After Monday's ceremony, there's a free lunch for everyone at the VFW Post at 2404 W. Industrial Park Drive.
Contact Herald-Times reporter Laura Lane at llane@heraldt.com or 812-318-5967.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Memorial Day: 'Making sure no one forgets the sacrifices made'
