St. Landry honors parish soldiers at annual Memorial Day ceremony
The American flag and another recognizing U.S. prisoners of war and those missing in action were lowered and raised again in remembrance during part of an annual ceremony Monday at the St. Landry Parish Veterans Memorial.
"Taps" and the sounds of 21 guns solemnly spread across the memorial grounds after parish soldiers from all foreign wars during the past 125 years were remembered individually and collectively for their combat deaths during a separate Memorial Day indoor presentation.
The names of St. Landry soldiers either missing or killed in action from World War I though the Iraq and Afghanistan wars were announced during roll calls and the haunting ringing of bells during a ceremony inside the Yambilee Building on U.S. 190 west of Opelousas.
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Later, a St. Landry Parish Funeral Honor Guard fired their guns in tribute before the flags were lifted back to their apexes at the center of the Memorial grounds which feature a black granite wall containing the names of the parish gold star families.
Church Point resident Joseph Richard, 98, who is believed to be the only living Louisiana survivor of the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941, was the honorary guest for the memorial event.
Richard, a teenage Navy recruit and welder aboard a repair ship that neighbored the USS Oklahoma and USS Arizona, was treated as a celebrity both before and after the outdoor event, as elected officials and military veterans positioned to pose with him for pictures.
As the Japanese aerial attack occurred while Richard was aboard the USS Riegel, Richard jumped in a boat with other sailors and rescued other Navy personnel aboard several sinking ships, according to accounts.
Both Yambilee Building and Veterans Memorial events were organized by Pat Mason-Guillory, project director for the St. Landry Parish Veterans Memorial.
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Mason-Guillory told those assembled for the Yambilee Building ceremony that Memorial Day should stand as a reminder that when soldiers who go off to war there is no guarantee that they will ever return home.
“The men and women who were honored here today showed their willingness to make that sacrifice in order that we can live today in the free world,” Mason-Guillory said.
Don Reber, state senior vice-commander for the Veterans of Foreign Wars Department, told the crowd at the Yambilee Building that American soldiers have done their parts for helping to achieve world peace.
“Never has there been a country before us that has paid a higher price for the freedom of others,” said Reber, who served in Vietnam from 1965 until 1968.
Veterans Memorial committee members Rhonda Hollier and Martha Ford presented plants to members of three St. Landry gold star families before the ceremony reassembled and moved outdoors several miles away.
This article originally appeared on Opelousas Daily World: St. Landry Parish soldiers honored: Memorial Day at Veterans Memorial
