Goshen Honor Guard member is Memorial Day grand marshal
May 27—GOSHEN — Goshen resident Charlie Stacey, an honor guard member of over 25 years, will be this year's Annual Memorial Day Parade Grand Marshal.
"The funerals of loved one stay with us probably the rest of our lives," Stacey said. "I know I remember both grandmas' and grandpas', my mom's brother, my mom and aunts', I remember their funerals. The family that was in the service, and the ones that have military honors for their burial, that will stay with me. I can't remember all the ones that we did, but I remember the looks I see on their faces."
Stacey vividly remembers the day he decided he would join the Honor Guard. It was at his uncle's funeral. His uncle was killed on the second day of Operation Overlord, the Battle of Normandy, in June of 1944.
"I [saw] what the Honor Guard did for [the] family when they brought him home, and I said if I ever got the chance, I'd do it," he said.
Almost 50 years later, it happened.
"I'm just thankful that the guy knocked on my door and wanted to know if I'd be a part of the honor guard," he added.
It's been almost 25 years since that day, and Stacey continues to cherish every opportunity he gets to serve.
"As long as I live and can do it, I plan on doing it because when you're in the service, you're not just in the service for yourself," he said. "You're in for your family, your neighbors, of what our country represents and what we represent... Just about whatever they need, I will do for them. The only thing that I can do is thank the Lord that he's touched me in a way that I can do that for the family... The only thing that I can say to them is, 'It's an honor and a privilege.'
Stacey's career with the military began many years before his time with the Honor Guard. As a young man, he joined the National Guard in Lexington, Kentucky, before finding his way to Goshen at age 19.
"I laid brick there in Lexington, and it was in the wintertime and in the wintertime back then, you didn't lay brick- they'd freeze," he said.
His friend woke him up early in the morning asked him if he'd join him, traveling to Goshen to stay with his aunts, and that's just what the teen did, working at a metal plant before eventually getting drafted.
"I thought I was going to Korea when I went in," he added.
Instead, he spent 18 months in Germany, following World War II. The time period was just after the war ended, before France and Great Britain, the U. S. S. R. and the United States relinquished control of Germany, and just after into the 1950s.
"We were the last troops to occupy Germany," he recalled of his time in the 51st Infantry Battalion, 4th Armored Division
Stacey, retired, is a Member of Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion, who are putting together the annual parade alongside Disabled American Veterans once again this year.
Dani Messick is the education and entertainment reporter for The Goshen News.
She can be reached at dani.messick@goshennews.com or at 574-538-2065.
