TodaySaluting those who ‘answered higher call’
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Veterans march in Carlisle’s Memorial Day parade Monday. (Curt Werner/Special to The Sentinel)
Brig. Gen. Kenneth Chrosniak
They lined the streets of Carlisle wearing a range of Americana — everything from the uniforms of the armed forces and veterans’ groups to casual football jerseys and flag-painted T-shirts.
But despite the crowd members’ disparate ages, life experiences and social strata, they shared a common cause: to honor members of the military whose service helps ensure the free streets upon which celebrants could march.
"Many lay in hallowed grounds" such as national cemeteries or monument-studded private plots, Carlisle Mayor Kirk Wilson told a crowd outside the Old Courthouse after the Memorial Day parade. Others, he said, weren’t so lucky, interred in foreign lands and even buried in grounds forever unmarked — anonymous soldiers of forgotten battles.
"But wherever their final resting place, we remember them all on this day," Wilson said. "We gather to demonstrate our unity, remember our losses and commemorate their commitment."
More than summer’s start
And the day serves another purpose, retired Army Brig. Gen. Kenneth Chrosniak said.
"Every year, Memorial Day unofficially signals the beginning of summer for the millions of Americans" who gather to grill food outdoors or take a family vacation, the ceremony’s guest speaker said.
"In a country that cherishes the rights of an individual, that’s exactly as it should be," he said. "But let us also reflect on those who lost their lives ... not because they love war, because nothing is more repulsive to a free-loving people, but because they answered a higher call."
That call came by way of threats to American freedom — such as on Dec. 7, 1941, when the skies of Pearl Harbor grew dark with bombs and smoke and again on Sept. 11, 2001, when the World Trade Center’s two towers came crashing down and a portion of the Pentagon was destroyed.
Days of remembrance are especially important, Chrosniak said, as members of the so-called "Greatest Generation" — World War II veterans — are dying at the rate of 1,000 a day.
"The present generation is also a great generation. But they’re also an amazing generation," he said, citing stories of two medal winners.
Modern heroes lauded
Sgt. 1st Class Paul R. Smith of the Third Infantry died April 4, 2003, while directing his company’s defense against an attack at Baghdad Airport, saving the lives of some 100 soldiers. He was awarded the Medal of Honor — the nation’s highest military honor — exactly two years after his death, which occurred while he was manning a .50-caliber machine gun on an armored personnel carrier whose crew had been wounded by a mortar round.
Spc. Jeremy L. Church of the 724th Transportation Company, meanwhile, was the first Army reservist to win the Silver Star during the global war on terror.
Chrosniak, who has spent 36 years in the military and is just weeks away from being recalled to active duty, said what makes the present generation so amazing is its overarching commitment to a national cause. Specifically, he thanked those in volunteer fire services, police forces and veteran organizations for helping preserve at home what the military fights for abroad.
"Together, America will never be vanquished — but divided, we will be susceptible," he said.
