'Every day is a continued struggle': Memorial Day in Alachua County, Gainesville is a reminder

The loss of loved ones in service to the nation is ever-present to their families and friends.

But the broader community has an opportunity Monday to recognize those sacrifices at the annual Memorial Day Ceremony at Evergreen Cemetery that again is being organized by the Alachua County Veteran Services Division and the city of Gainesville.

The event on Monday, beginning at 11 a.m., at Evergreen Cemetery, 401 SE 21st Ave., is hosted also by the cemetery and Milam Funeral Homes.

It is free open to the public, honoring veterans and military service members who lost their lives in service to the nation.

This ceremony will feature patriotic presentations, the Presentation of Colors, an American flag ceremony, musical tributes as well as inspirational words from area leaders. A free lunch will be available, provided by Milam Funeral Homes.

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"Our nation has lost millions of Americans in service to our nation, and their loss has been much of the price paid for our freedom and safety,” said Alachua County Veteran Service Director Kim Davis. “Coming to this ceremony has a powerful impact on surviving veterans as they see that our community truly appreciates the service we have given."

High cost of freedom

For family members who have lost loved ones in service to the nation, Memorial Day has a special significance.

“Let’s face it, most people think about Memorial Day as a three-day party weekend,” said Ronna Jackson, whose 24-year-old son U.S. Army Ranger John Reiners was killed in Afghanistan in February of 2013. “While they are throwing the hot dogs on the grill and they are popping the tops on their beer, that truly is the most expensive hot dog that you will eat this year.”

For the mother of a fallen soldier, every day is Memorial Day, she said.

“We don’t need a Hallmark calendar to tell us it’s a day to grieve."

Jackson's son was killed by a suicide bomber, leaving behind his 3-year-old son and a wife.

“Every day is a continued struggle,” Jackson said “It’s all about the first things my son missed with his son. First day of kindergarten. The first haircut. The first prom. It’s the little things that people truly tend to take for granted that as Gold Star families we know the reality of the true cost of freedom.”

Jon Wershow, a former Alachua County Commissioner who lost his 22-year-old son Jeffrey in Iraq in 2003, said Memorial Day is truly a day to reflect on his son, who was a Florida National Guardsman and was shot at point blank range in the head while on a security detail in Baghdad.

“It is a day that I know that he’ll never come back, and it is very, very difficult," he said. "But luckily, I have other children, and we all miss Jeffrey.”

He said his son, who wanted to be in the military ever since he could walk, believed at that time when he was killed in Iraq “that Saddam Hussein was the epitome of the evil empire, he had weapons of mass destruction and that he was behind the 9-11 bombings.”

Wershow said he not only struggles with the loss of his son but the realization now that the Iraq War was based on the false argument that the country had weapons of mass destruction.

“And that is one of the things that I think about, and it is very, very difficult for me to deal with," he said.

Wershow said honoring veterans is important, but the country needs to do a better job taking care of veterans who are alive and trying to cope.

“There is a much higher percentage of veterans who are homeless,” he said. “We need to try to figure out ways that we can assist the veterans who have come back crippled in so many ways, both mentally and physically serving our country.”

James Islam, who lost his 18-year-old son Joshua in a Marine Corps training incident at Camp Pendleton in California in January of 2014, said Memorial Day in his family had always been a day in which family members who were no longer alive were recognized by his large family.

“When we lost Josh, among the things that really stood out was his absence at our table,” he said. “We’re a Christian family, so we always remember and give thanks for the time we have, and we look forward to the resurrection. And so Memorial Day grew in significance."

Mike Clark, who lost his 19-year-old son Philip in Afghanistan May of 2010, said Memorial Day is not only a time when he honors his son as a fallen hero but remembers his life.

Philip went into the Marines right after graduating from Buchholz High School and played football there.

“At the time he went into the Marine Corps he quit football, and at the time I was kind of upset about it," Clark said. "I said, 'You’re leaving your teammates hanging,' because he was the kicker on the team. He told the coach, ‘This is what I want to do with my life and I have to prepare.’”

Clark said since his son's death he has a different view on the significance of Memorial Day.

“Some people think about it being a three-day weekend. Let’s go hit the beach. Let’s go to the lake. Do this and that. My perspective is different now," he said.

Holiday schedules for government offices and services

Because of the holiday, most government offices are closed and services suspended.

Residential curbside collection services in Gainesville and across Alachua County for solid waste, recycling and yard trash will be delayed one day for the entire holiday week. Monday’s regular collection will occur on Tuesday, and so on through the week ending with Friday’s collection on Saturday. Regular collection schedules will resume on Monday, June 6.

The five Alachua County Rural Collection Centers, the Leveda Brown Environmental Park and Transfer Station, and the Hazardous Waste Collection Center will also be closed on Monday. The facilities will resume regular hours of operation on Tuesday.

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Memorial Day ceremony for Alachua County, Gainesville is a reminder