6 minute read
City of Liberty Lake goes all out
GOOSEBUMPS ... BY THE LAKE Liberty Lake community committed to supporting, remembering veterans
By Don Walker
VETERANS HELP NET
You get the feeling that there is something different about Liberty Lake when you drive into town from the west on Country Vista Boulevard, one of the small city’s main east/ west roads.
As you drive past the new Ridgeline High School and head toward the main intersection with Liberty Lake Road, you may be taken by surprise by the presence of many American flags on light standards on both sides of the street.
But there’s much, much more.
On each of those light standards, below the flag, is a 5-foot by 2.5-foot colored banner with a picture and military facts about each of Liberty Lake’s own military Hometown Heroes.
It is quite a moving sight.
The Liberty Lake Centennial Rotary Club, the City of Liberty Lake and Avista have all come together to honor and remember their Hometown Heroes.
The Liberty Lake Hometown Heroes are not all fallen heroes, but some were. They came from World War II and Vietnam, some from the Gulf wars, and some are still serving.
Here are some of the statistics about the initial 25 Heroes on display: • 5 served in World War II • 10 served in Vietnam • 2 are currently serving • 2 were killed in action in Vietnam (Richard H. Walker and Gregory Vercruysse) • 3 received a Silver Star for bravery, (1st Lt Richard Walker, Cpt. David Bray and Col. Rick Nichols) • 7 received Bronze Stars • 6 received Purple Hearts for being wounded in action
If they are still living, their banner states “Honoring.” If they have passed, their banner states “Remembering.” That is exactly the message the community of Liberty Lake wanted: “We will always Remember and Honor those that have served.”
Seeing this street of banners and flags give me and many others goosebumps.
As they drove or walked down the street, many teared up. Even if they did not know the folks on the banners, some said the display just took their breath away.
Those of us that helped put the program together hoped it would have an impact, but it did more than that. We are all proud of our heroes and proud of our Liberty Lake community that does so much to honor those who served.
In future years, the Liberty Lake Hometown Heroes Banners will be installed just before Memorial Day and taken down just after Veterans Day. (Liberty Lake Hometown Heroes is now taking applications for an additional 25 Hometown Hero banner honorees. Go to Libertylakehometownheroes.com for more information and applications. Or call me at (509) 998-6484.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF DON WALKER
Liberty Lake’s Fallen Heroes Circuit shares information about local deceased veterans at each station. The Moving Wall Vietnam Memorial at Liberty Lake Pavillion Park also featured 300 banners of area fallen heroes who have died since 9/11.
The Fallen Heroes Circuit Course
The Hometown Heroes banners are just the start of the ways this community remembers and honors its veterans all year long.
Did you know that in 2013 Liberty Lake established a Fallen Heroes Circuit course along the city’s extensive trail system, with five different sets of exercise and workout equipment stations?
Each station is dedicated to a Fallen Hero, one from each military branch. A bronze plaque with their picture and story is located at each station.
The community can walk or run these trails and stop at all or some of these stations for a different circuit workout. Pretty awesome that those fallen heroes will never be forgotten.
Moving Wall replica
A local group of committed veterans and community leaders spent 11/2 years working on getting the Moving Wall Vietnam Memorial replica to come to Liberty Lake in September. The wall was here for four days from Sept. 15-19.
The Liberty Lake Pavillion Park was the site of the memorial wall on the small rise above the grass amphitheater, facing the pavilion and the lake. Hundreds of area individuals and families visited the Wall and it was impossible not to be moved watching the emotion and reverence.
At the same time the Gallant Guards of Liberty worked with the Fallen Heroes Banner organization and arranged for a Pavilion Park display of over 300 banners of Fallen Heroes, who are all connected to this area. All died while in the service since 9/11.
The faces of these young men and women brought many of the hundreds of visitors to tears.
Bryan Bledsoe, one of the volunteers helping set up the banners, was visited by a woman and a young girl. The young girl looked at the pictures and asked, “How old are they?” As Bryan considered an answer, the woman said her son was on one of those banners. It just so happened that they were about to set up his banner and, in quite a moving moment, the
See GOOSEBUMPS, 9
Jeff Grimes, Mandy Desgrosellier and Emily Osborne of Liberty Lake Centennial Rotary Club help with the community’s Memorial Day breakfast. GOOSEBUMPS
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mother got to hang her son’s banner among the other heroes.
There were hundreds of moving stories and magic moments in this four-day memorial. Hundreds of names on the wall were penciled onto memory sheets. These sheets will be taken home and used as a reminder of the real people that represented each of the 58,781 names on that wall.
Memorial Day and Veterans Day breakfasts
Speaking of Memorial Day, we must acknowledge another Liberty Lake event honoring veterans.
The Liberty Lake Centennial Rotary Club, in cooperation with the City of Liberty Lake and many others, sponsors a Memorial Day Breakfast at Pavillion Park. The breakfast is free to all, and the program always has awesome patriotic speakers and music as well as a solemn ceremony honoring and remembering those that have passed.
The park is decorated for the weekend with hundreds of luminaries. Many of them have names on them of those who have passed who someone wanted to honor and remember. After dark, the luminaries form an American flag. The whole experience is important and unforgettable.
Another event of note is Liberty Lake Elementary’s annual Veterans Day Breakfast, which has been on hold during COVID restrictions.
The breakfast is always free to veterans and it carries a message to students that the men and women that served their country have earned a special recognition. The program lets the students invite any veteran family members and friends.
The students are also asked to bring military pictures of their family veterans and introduce them at the breakfast. It is so incredibly moving to see this interaction and it is important to the veteran and the student.
Why it works
At Liberty Lake these community events clearly show the commitment of the citizens to honor and remember all military veterans.
These programs and events don’t just happen. It takes the cooperation and commitment of the city staff, the community, the support organizations, as well as dozens of individual volunteers to make these events happen each year. Thank you all.
Final thought: Liberty Lake community, we are proud of you and what you do. You have earned our respect and admiration. When I think or all the good, honorable things you do every year, well ... it gives me goosebumps! I would never want to live anywhere else in the world.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF DON WALKER
