Memorial Day service in Sellersburg honors legacy of fallen soldiers
May 30—SELLERSBURG — As community members gathered in a local park, the Memorial Day service in Sellersburg offered a solemn tribute to the fallen service members who served their country.
On Monday, the American Legion Wilbur M. Ruby Post 204 in Sellersburg presented its annual Memorial Day Observation Service in Wilkerson Park. During the ceremony, speakers honored local service members who have died, including those lost in combat.
Brig. Gen. James P. Sanders, commander of the Army's 352nd Civil Affairs Command at Fort Meade in Maryland, was the guest speaker at the service. He has been in the military for 34 years, including serving in Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm from September of 1990 to August of 1991.
He served in Afghanistan in Operation Enduring Freedom as a special operations civil affairs team leader from January of 2001 to March of 2002, and in 2010, he served in his third combat tour as a special operations civil affair team leader in Iraq.
Sanders was invited to Monday's Memorial Day service by his uncle, Jack Wayne, a Vietnam veteran who serves with the Sellersburg American Legion Post. He said he was "humbled and honored" to speak at Monday's service.
He also noted that his father-in-law, a Vietnam veteran, died last year of brain cancer related to exposure to Agent Orange.
"For those of you who served in Vietnam or any conflict across the globe, the sacrifices and commitment to your nation are never forgotten," he said. "The nation is proud of your service."
Wayne is familiar with most of the fallen soldiers listed on the Vietnam War memorial in Wilkerson Park. This includes Raymond Baumgarner of Sellersburg — he died in the war, and Wayne brought his body home.
"That has the deepest meaning for me when I come back to this little park right here — what Sgt. Baumgarner sacrificed, what he gave," he said. "I know about everyone on that Vietnam Memorial having grown up in this community. It seems like a small thing that we do for the sacrifice that was made by those who ultimately gave it all. It's very humbling for me and for all of us."
Service members "are defenders of the same principles that made this country great, and they stand as patriots to defend and protect the ideals and sentiments espoused in the Constitution of the United States," Sanders said.
He said "these heroes still speak for us," saying "young men and women lost their lives in order to make the freedom of others possible."
"If you are the friend or relative of a fallen hero, all you have to do is look around and you will see their legacy," Sanders said. "It is us, Americans in a free society unified with common purpose of honoring uncommon bravery. We are their legacy."
Memorial Day is a day to "remember these fallen heroes and pray that no more will die for us again," he said.
"At company and platoon level, he or she is a gaping hole in the souls of a hundred men," Sanders said. "To his or her family, it is the end of the world."
Only small fraction of the country serves in the United State military, Sanders said, and only 23% of Americans are even qualified to serve in the military. He also noted that about 80% of soldiers have a family member who also served in the military.
"For many of us, it's a family business," he said. "We keep asking the same families to sacrifice and protect this nation, and I want you to think about that on this Memorial Day weekend."
Sanders said all the men and women lost to combat are different, but they share common traits such as their love for their country and being "part of something bigger than themselves."
