Gorgeous weather and a large crowd blessed this morning’s Memorial Day ceremony at the Northfield Area Veterans Memorial in Riverside Park.
Rob Hardy has a summary of the Memorial Day proceedings in this Northfield.org blog post, including the names of area veterans who died in the past year.
Northfield News Publisher Sam Gett has a 2-minute video clip of the ceremony posted; reporter David Henke has posted an album of 11 photos.
See my album of 100+ photos, the large slideshow, or this small slideshow:
I have attended the Memorial Day Service for years and I must say this years service topped them all. The Veterans Memorial Park is such a wonderful tribute to the men & women who have served in the various branches of our military.
I was very impressed by the size of this years crowd. I think it speaks highly of the respect we hold for those who have fought for our freedoms.
Thank you to all who have served our great country & God Bless. To the organizing committee, thank you for a well planned, respectful ceremony.
Thanks, Arlen. I agree.
My only minor complaints:
* They still don’t make easy for area websites to help promote the event. I complained back in 2008: https://locallygrownnorthfield.org/post/3522/ How hard could it be to make the PDF’s available?
* I still find the listing of recent wars to be problematic, like I noted back in 2007: https://locallygrownnorthfield.org/post/1430/
I have a theory regarding the way recent conflicts are listed. Eligibility in the VFW is determined by whether of not a veteran has been awarded a campaign medal. The creation of campaign medals has always been somewhat of a political process, and recent history has not been an exception. As the post-9/11 deployments began (with the bulk of them being to, or in support of, Afghanistan) it was decided that two medals would be created: The Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal (GWOT-E) and the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal (GWOT-S). The GWOT-E would be issued to those deployed overseas as part of the War on Terror (such as those in Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, the Horn of Africa, the Philippines, etc), and the GWOT-S would go to those folks deployed within the US (like the National Guard troops that ended up in the airports for a while). Then Iraq kicked off…and the politicians got involved. They decided that, due to the size of the US committment to both Iraq and Afghanistan, individual campaign medals should be created for each (with the award criteria being actual service within those countries). So, in the end, it is possible to be engaged in the overall GWOT and be eligible for any one of 4 campaign medals. It’s also possible to be stationed somehwere like Manas in Kyrgyzstan “in support of Operation Enduring Freedom”…that would be the operational name for the war in Afghanistan…and receive the GWOT-E, while folks in Kandahar in Afghanistan “in support of Operation Enduring Freedom” would receive a completely different campaign medal.
So, by having separate listings for Iraq, Afghanistan, and GWOT, the veterans organizations are covering every possible class of GWOT veteran, regardless of what campaign medal they earned.
See, clear as mud. If you were to say “Phil, that’s about the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard of”, you won’t get an argument out of me. I would suggest, however, that you remember this: in life, there is a right way to do things and a wrong way to do things…and then there’s the Army way.
Phil, that’s about the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard of. 😉
Griff, there is one thing I wonder about. You’ve had this question about the Memorial for about 3 years now. We have both VFW and American Legion posts here in town. How come nobody from either group has ever tried answering your question?
Phil, I’m guessing that no one from the local VFW and American Legion reads this blog or gives a hoot about my questions. They don’t seem to know about the intertubes, as neither one has a website that I know of.
Neuger Communications generously donated the Northfield Area Veterans Memorial website back in 2005 and I think continues to donate other communications services, but Master of Ceremonies Ken Grisim never mentions the URL in his remarks, nor is the URL ever printed on the program.