The freedoms people living in the United States are afforded would not have been possible to provide if not for the brave efforts and undying commitment of the many individuals who have served in the nation’s armed forces. American military personnel have played vital roles in securing freedoms for their fellow citizens as well as individuals overseas.
Each year on the final Monday in May, the United States commemorates military personnel who lost their lives while serving in the armed forces. Those individuals made the ultimate sacrifice, and Memorial Day is a way to honor them and thank their families for their selfless acts. This Memorial Day, families can embrace various measures to honor fallen veterans.
► Visit a local veterans cemetery. The United Service Organization (USO) notes that most states have national veterans cemeteries. Though some veterans cemeteries are open only to family members of service personnel, others are open to the general public. Visiting a veterans cemetery is a great way to honor fallen military members and ensure the memory of their service and sacrifice is not forgotten on Memorial Day. ► Celebrate veterans over Memorial Day weekend. Memorial Day weekend is now synonymous with getaways and backyard barbecues. By taking time out during the weekend to honor fallen veterans, families can ensure the meaning behind the holiday is not lost in the midst of celebrations with family and friends. Take time out during a family
barbecue to discuss a family member who served or, if traveling, make an effort to visit a veterans memorial along your travel route.
► Help raise funds for veterans organizations. Fun runs or community Memorial Day walks may benefit local veterans organizations that help service members in need. Many service members may need help dealing with the deaths of friends or family members who died while serving in the armed forces, and veterans organizations may provide such help or direct funds to groups that do. That makes participation in events that benefit veterans organizations a great way to honor current military personnel and those who have served in the past, including those who died in service of their country.
► Teach youngsters about the role of the armed forces. There’s a lot competing for the attention of today’s young people, and that can make it easy to overlook the very freedoms that make the United States such a unique country throughout world history. Parents and guardians can emphasize the role the armed forces play in procuring and protecting freedoms in the United States and emphasize the significance of the sacrifices of those who gave their lives to ensure a higher quality of life for all U.S. residents.
Memorial Day commemorates military personnel who died while serving in the armed forces. There is much families can do to ensure those sacrifices are never forgotten or taken for granted.
The Chippewa Herald (TNS)
Retired U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Bert Walton is on a mission to remember fallen service members, which he says can be an activity and not just a passing thought.
Walton visited Lake Hallie, Chippewa Falls, Eau Claire, Onalaska and La Crosse, Wisconsin, on May 6 as part of a nonprofit relay across 48 states that honors fallen service people and first responders.
Walton, who hails from Texas, said he was honored to travel along the East Coast and Midwest relay routes this month as part of Carry the Load — an organization that brings awareness about those who made the ultimate sacrifice for the nation and its communities.
Carry the Load is a nonprofit that hosts a Memorial May campaign in recognition of service people from all branches of the military and first responders who died on the job.
CARRY: Page 4
In
Christi-An Hansley carries a flag through the Lake Hallie leg of Carry the Load’s relay across America on Monday, May 6, 2024. The nonprofit stops in 48 states, including Wisconsin and Minnesota, throughout May. Audrey Korte / River Valley Media Group
From Page 3
‘Carry
the Load just spoke to me’
“When it comes to keeping someone’s legacy or memory alive, it’s much better to do it in person, to share the stories and get out there engage with people because as a society we’re becoming a bit more disconnected with one another,” Walton said.
“If you can get out there and actually see each other and share those stories, people are more likely to open up, which not only perpetuates one’s legacy, but it also lets people express themselves and there’s a lot of them that need that.”
At each stop, groups and individuals walk through towns and cities, helping to raise money for U.S. heroes and their families.
“I’m remembering a few guys throughout the course of the route,” said Walton, who joined the military in 1998 and was deployed to Iraq and Kosovo during his eight years of service. “But this particular portion, I’m out here for Sgt. Michael Carlson from St. Paul.”
Carlson was killed Jan. 24, 2005, during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Walton served with him in Kosovo and Germany.
“Carry the Load just spoke to me. I think it’s because of the breadth of it, because it covers so much more than just a single group. And the active participation is meaningful rather than
just donating money; I get to be a part of something bigger than myself,” Walton said. “It really makes you think and appreciate what we have and the people who made this country great.”
The relay spans 20,000 miles, 69 community events and 33 Department of Veterans Affairs National Cemeteries. It will converge at the Dallas Memorial March on Memorial Day weekend.
Participants hope that showing up across America helps residents nationwide remember the true meaning of Memorial Day.
U.S. Army veteran Sue Leonard works for the Chippewa Falls Area Chamber of Commerce and also was in Lake Hallie on Monday for Carry the Load.
“Organizations that support our veterans are really important,” she said. “I’m just so glad that they stopped in Chippewa Falls and Lake Hallie. I hope it brings awareness and serves as a reminder to people about all the great work, the hard work and the sacrifices made by our military and their families.”
Steven Cooper from Texas walked with Carry the Load, and in Onalaska he said he was walking for his uncle Morgan Cooper, who served in Afghanistan and survived but was left with survivor’s guilt.
“He only talked to me about it once, and he almost broke down,” said Cooper. “I like the feeling that I’m helping him out somehow.”
CARRY: Page 5
From Page 3
What started in 2011 as one Memorial Day march has expanded in numbers and impact.
The organization hopes this year — the 14th annual Memorial May campaign — to raise $2 million for nationwide services such as counseling, adaptive training, suicide prevention, equine therapy, service dogs, job placements, transition, home improvements, education scholarships for children of the fallen and more.
Thus far, it has raised more than $630,000, with 667 teams and 5,283 participants signed up to partake in the walks nationally.
“Memorial May unites thousands of people under a common purpose, and it’s been incredible to see participants honor our fallen heroes together,” said Stephen Holley, co-founder, president and CEO of Carry the Load and a veteran U.S. Navy SEAL.
Since 2011, Carry The Load has raised more than $42 million, with 93% of donations going toward its programs.
U.S. Army veteran Andy Medrano oversees the Midwest leg of the Carry the Load relay. On Monday in Lake Hallie, he said he loves going through the Upper Midwest on the way to Dallas,
From left, Gannon Santos, Pam McKinnon and Steven Cooper walk in the Carry the Load walk in Onalaska Monday, May 6, 2024. The charity event is a nationwide effort to honor the nation’s veterans.
SaskiaHatvany / River Valley Media Group
where the organization hosts a huge event at the end of the month.
“Big towns, people are always gonna come by and sometimes scrutinize us. We’re explaining to them who we are
and what we’re about. Smaller towns are more inviting,” Medrano said. “Coming to these places, everybody makes us literally feel at home. They see the flags, they see who we’re honoring and why
Friday, May 24th through Memorial Day Monday, May 27th
we’re doing this and you know, most of the time, everybody just wants to come out and help out more.”
Participants walk in the Carry the Load walk Monday, May 6, 2024, in Onalaska, Wisconsin. The charity event is a nationwide effort to honor the nation’s veterans.
Saskia Hatvany / River Valley Media Group
From Page 5
Fallen Wisconsinites, Minnesotans remembered
Cheyenne Colson, who was also in Lake Hallie on May 8, has been walking with Carry the Load for the last six years.
“I love coming out here and seeing it change people’s lives. A lot of people forget what these men and women have done for our country,” she said.
Colson, who is training to be a firefighter, said she was touched by a story she heard in Minnesota over the weekend of a February incident where two police officers and a firefighter were fatally shot and
another officer was injured while responding to a domestic incident.
In Burnsville, Minnesota officers Paul Elmstrand and Matthew Ruge and firefighter/paramedic Adam Finseth were killed in the line of duty while Sgt. Adam Medlicott was injured and taken to a hospital.
“We had a storyboard up for the firefighter whose life was taken. It really gave me pause that he went in when an officer was down and he paid for it with his life,” she said.
Also on May 8, two other men from the region were remembered.
Cpl. Gregory Jon Olsen of Franklin, Wisconsin, served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. He was in a heavy
mortar platoon in Dinh Tuong Province when a gasoline explosion burned him badly. He succumbed to his wounds two days later and died May 25, 1969.
“Everybody loved Greg, both back home and in country. He was a special part of our family, and we’re all proud of his service and were devastated by his sacrifice,” recalled his cousin C.J. Niehoff.
Also remembered was Lt. Christopher S. Goeke of Apple Valley, Minnesota, who graduated sixth in his class, was commissioned as an infantry officer and was assigned to the 1-508 PI, 82nd Airborne.
He deployed to Afghanistan and was killed July 13, 2010, in Kandahar City when insurgents breached a friendly compound.
Before his death, he gathered his platoon and led a counterattack to push them back, allowing the compound to restore security and saving many lives.
“This is what it’s about,” Medrano said. “We remember with and for the families and friends who lost someone close to them. We remember those who died recently and those who died long ago. It’s the least we can do.”
River Valley Media Group Visual Journalist Saskia Hatvany contributed to this story.
(c)2024 The Chippewa Herald, Chippewa Falls, Wisc. Visit The Chippewa Herald, Chippewa Falls, Wisc. at www.chippewa.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Memorial Day is celebrated annually on the last Monday of May across the United States. The proximity of Memorial Day to the summer solstice has led many to view the weekend preceding the holiday as the unofficial kickoff to summer. However, Memorial Day is about more than backyard barbecues and weekend getaways.
Memorial Day honors service members who died while serving in the United States military. Though Memorial Day traces its origins to the years following the American Civil War in the mid-nineteenth century, it did not become an official federal holiday until 1971. That’s one of just many interesting facts about Memorial Day that are worth noting as the United States prepares to commemorate the sacrifices of military personnel who died in service of the country.
► Memorial Day began as something of a grassroots movement. According to History.com, by the late 1860s individuals in towns across the war-ravaged United States began holding springtime tributes to soldiers who lost their lives during the American Civil War.
► Among the more notable postwar commemorations was one organized by former slaves in Charleston, South Carolina. That commemoration occurred less than a month after the Confederate forces surrendered in 1865. Despite that, History.com notes that in 1966 the federal government declared Waterloo, New York, the birthplace of Memorial Day.
► Postwar commemorations also were organized by northern veterans of the Civil War. General John A. Logan, who led an organization of Union veterans, called for a nationwide day of remembrance in May 1868. General Logan referred to the holiday as Declaration Day and chose May 30 because it was not the anniversary of any specific battle and therefore unlikely to be viewed by some as controversial.
► Early commemorations of Decoration Day, which gradually came to be known as Memorial Day, initially honored only those soldiers who died during the American Civil War. However, that changed over time as American servicemen fought in various wars, including both World Wars, the Vietnam War, the Korean War, and other conflicts.
► The red poppy has become a symbol of Memorial Day. That red poppy can be traced to a poem by Canadian John McCrae, who served as a Lieutenant Colonel in World War I. “In Flanders Field” notes the red poppies that grew in fields where countless soldiers had been buried in modern-day Belgium. The poem was published in 1915, three years before the war ended. Sadly, McCrae himself was a casualty of the war, succumbing to pneumonia in France in 1918 while still in the service.
Memorial Day honors service personnel who lost their lives while serving in the U.S. military. The holiday’s inspiration and lengthy history merits consideration as the nation prepares to commemorate countless soldiers’ sacrifices once more.
on Friday, May 26,
Members of the
American
hand while taking part in the Memorial Day ceremony on Monday, May 29, 2023, at Fairview Cemetery in Raymond.
An American flag blows in the wind during a Memorial Day ceremony on Monday, May 29, 2023, at the Yellow Medicine County Courthouse in Granite Falls.
Many area communities will host flag-raisings, cemetery services and parades in honor of those who have served in the armed forces. For an updated listing of Memorial Day services, visit www.wctrib.com or see the Extra section in the May 25, 2024 edition
VFW Post 3871 chaplain Verlynn
on
Pioneer Press (TNS)
Nearly 83 years after he was killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor, Navy Fire Controlman 3rd Class William Gusie’s remains will be returned to his home state of Minnesota.
Gusie, who graduated from White Bear Lake High School in 1939, was assigned to the battleship USS Oklahoma, which was moored at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, when the ship was attacked by Japanese aircraft on Dec. 7, 1941.
The Oklahoma sustained multiple torpedo hits, which caused it to quickly capsize. The attack on the ship resulted in the deaths of 429 crewmen, including Gusie, according to a news release from Hawaiibased Defense POW-MIA Accounting Agency. For his service, Gusie was posthumously awarded a Purple Heart.
Gusie, who was 19 when he was killed, was one of 13 service members accounted for by the Defense Department agency tasked with recovering U.S. troops listed as missing in action or prisoners of war.
From December 1941 to June 1944, unidentified remains from the USS Oklahoma were collected and interred in the Halawa and Nu’uanu Cemeteries on Oahu. The American Graves Registration Service disinterred the remains from the Oklahoma in 1947, but were able to identify only 35 of the men at the time, according to the news release.
The unidentified remains were buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu. They stayed there for 68 years before the DPAA exhumed the unknown remains for testing in 2015.
The DPAA used dental and anthropological analysis and scientists from the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System used mitochondrial DNA analysis to identify Gusie, the news release states. Gusie was accounted for on Sept. 23, 2021 – nearly 80 years after his death – but the announcement was withheld until now so family members could get a full briefing on his identification,
Memorial Day, REMEMBER and HONOR
Rescue teams at work on the capsized hull of the U.S.S. Oklahoma, seeking crew members trapped inside, on Dec. 7 1941. The starboard bilge keel is visible at the top of the upturned hull. Officers' motorboats from the Oklahoma and the U.S.S. Argonne are in the foreground. The U.S.S. Maryland is in the background. U.S. Navy / National Archives, File
according to the news release.
Gusie will be laid to rest on June 12 at Fort Snelling National Cemetery
Gusie’s name is recorded on the Walls of the Missing at the Punchbowl, along with the others who are missing from
WWII. A rosette will now be placed next to his name to indicate he has been accounted for, officials said. ©2024 MediaNews Group, Inc. Visit at twincities.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
Reports from the United States Central Intelligence Agency indicate the country has the third largest active military in the world. As of September 2023, the U.S. military consisted of just under three million people, more than two million of whom are military personnel (just under 800,000 are civilian employees).
The U.S. military is made up of seven branches: Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, Coast Guard, and the National Guard. No two branches of the military perform the same functions, and there are various leadership positions within the branches. The following rundown of various military positions can help Americans gain a greater understanding of the individuals who work to keep the country safe each day.
► Secretary of Defense: The Secretary of Defense is a unique position in America, as laws designed to ensure civilian control of the military mandate that the Secretary of Defense cannot have served as an active-duty commissioned officer in the military in the preceding seven years (ten years in the case of a general). The Secretary of Defense is the head of the Department of the
Defense and the secretary’s authority over the military is second only to the president’s.
► Chief of Naval Operations (CNO): The CNO is the highest-ranking officer in the United States Navy. The CNO is an admiral and is a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, which is the body of the most senior uniformed
officers within the Department of Defense. Though the CNO is a significant position, the person in the role does not have operational command over naval forces.
► Four-star General: General is a title familiar to civilians and armed forces personnel alike. A Four-star General in the U.S. Army is a senior level
commissioned officer who typically has more than 30 years of experience and service. General is the highest rank normally available in the U.S. Army, though a General of the Army may be named in time of war where the commanding officer must be equal or of higher rank than individuals commanding armies from other nations.
► General (Air Force): General also is the highest rank in the United States Air Force. According to Executivegov. com, four-star generals in the Air Force take charge of command positions in NATO, Numbered Air Forces, and the Chief of Staff.
► Commandant of the Marine Corps (CMC): The CMC is the highest-ranking Marine Officer and is also a four-star general. The CMC is on the Joint Chiefs of Staff and reports directly to the Secretary of the Navy. The CMC transmits the plans and recommendations of the Marine Corps to the Secretary and advises on those plans. These are just a handful of the influential positions established to ensure the U.S. military can effectively fulfill its mission to keep the country safe each and every day.
BY CADEN PERRY La Crosse Tribune, Wis. (TNS)
As the hangar doors opened at Colgan Air Services, the journey ahead to the National Mall was rung in by the sound of turning gears and family cheers inside the hangar bay.
Besides the two public ceremonies bookending the trip, many veterans
from the tri-state area experienced a quiet trip around the nation’s capital.
The silence was not melancholy or solemn, rather pure concentration and awestruck feelings as they visited monuments built to honor the country’s military heroes.
“It’s one thing to see these memorials, but I don’t think I’ll ever be around this many veterans at the same time again,”
said Vietnam veteran Dennis Decker. “It feels special. It feels awesome.”
The biannual Freedom Honor Flight took 100 veterans and their guardians from La Crosse to Washington, D.C., on Saturday, where they visited memorials built in their honor.
The Freedom Honor Flights began in 2008 with the same cause: helping veterans in Wisconsin, Minnesota and
travel to the capital at no expense to them. Since 2008, the Freedom Honor Flight program has flown 30 flights of veterans to D.C.
This flight brought one World War II veteran, seven Korean War veterans and 92 Vietnam War veterans along for the monumental day trip.
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From Page 12
‘No ranks, no service, no hometowns’
The Freedom Honor Flight tour is an intricate machine. One round-trip flight, three meals and four buses are just a sliver of the coordination required to make the trip successful.
The whole operation is run entirely by volunteers. The only people paid for their time are paramedics and physicians from Mayo Clinic Health System and Gundersen Health System, who travel along and whose expense is covered by the health care organizations.
Each veteran is assigned to a bus with a corresponding military alphabet sign from alpha through delta.
“I was really surprised by the coordination here,” said Jerome Zais of Chippewa Falls. “We hit some snags here and there, but nothing ever put us behind or ruined another thing in the trip.”
Seeing the nation’s monuments was a humbling moment for many veterans. At the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, veterans are faced with thousands of names of those who died in the Vietnam War inscribed in glossy black granite.
“No ranks, no service, no hometowns,” a memorial guide tells veteran Richard Orth. “Every person on this wall is equal.”
Dozens of veterans collected names from the wall by pushing pencils across slips of paper, lifting the inscribed letters from the wall.
“Jimmy Ray ... Jimmy Ray Callison,” Gary Nummerdor said to himself.
Scanning the panels, the De Soto resident searched for three names for a friend back home who also served: Jimmy Ray Callison, Larry Gilbert Dahl and Raymond Lee Armentrout.
“He wanted to be here. He was on the list and ready, but he stayed home for his wife, who got sick,” Nummerdor explained. “She had issues with her kidney and was on the transplant list, but when it came around she was too old. Then she developed cancer. And my friend, he said he had to stay with her.”
Nummerdor’s friend served in the 359th Transportation Co. with Callison and Dahl. The company was responsible for moving fuel between key battlegrounds in Vietnam. Callison helped run a gun truck nicknamed Brutus that defended the 359th Co. convoy.
Dahl and others in the 359th inherited Brutus after an enemy ambush claimed Callison and wounded two others.
Nummerdor held his three collected names close to his chest as he left the wall. Zais said he was also able to locate the name of someone he served with and was glad the process was easy given the help of volunteers at the wall.
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From Page 13
Every veteran is accompanied by a guardian who helps them around Washington, D.C., for the day. Some are assigned random volunteers, others choose friends, and some bring along family members.
Decker, the Vietnam veteran from Winona, brought along his granddaughter Madelyn Bosch, who currently serves in the U.S. Navy.
Decker served in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War. After his service, he settled in Winona to work for the Army Corps of Engineers on a dredge boat. He worked his way up from deckhand to master first-class pilot before retiring from his 34-year career.
Bosch’s white “Dixie cup” service hat and Decker’s Vietnam veteran baseball cap were strong complements to each other as they walked around the National Mall. Decker said he hated wearing the Dixie cap, but Bosch said the twofold garrison caps were worse to wear.
Toward the end of the trip, Decker strode across the World War II Memorial with a wide smile beaming from under his long mustache.
For more information, to apply for a veteran to participate, donate to the organization or volunteer, visit www. freedomhonorflight.org.
Decker and Bosch said they found the changing of the guard ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery to be the highlight of the trip.
At the top of every hour, a new soldier is rotated into guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The previous and incoming guards both have their weapons checked and go through an intense inspection before starting their shift at the memorial.
Incoming guard Jessica Kwiatkowski was the first female infantry soldier to earn the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier Identification Badge in 2023. Like every guard, she served her post in total silence.
“I saw that female soldier out there and was just like, ‘Go her,’ ‘cause that was cool,” Bosch said. “I was super surprised by the changing of the guard. The whole presentation to it was really amazing.”
Many veterans on the trip walked up to Bosch and asked her about her service throughout the trip. Decker stood behind Bosch every time with a proud, upright posture.
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Experiences like the Honor Flights take hundreds of volunteers, medical experts, guides and donors to make a trip of this scale happen twice each year.
Without Kevin Kuchar, the amount of manpower already behind the Honor Flights would not be enough. The retired La Crosse medical dispatcher served as the medical coordinator for Honor Flights on almost all 30 flights since 2008.
Kuchar rode stuffed in the back corner of the bus surrounded by chargers for respirators, blood sugar devices and bags full of other key medical equipment. From the back of the caravan, Kuchar made sure every single veteran received any medical attention they needed.
“Unfortunately, the board has demoted me to the position of president,” Kuchar said with his often-used sarcasm. “This is my last one. The position has gotten redundant, and I’m taking up the spot another veteran could be taking.”
By helping coordinate resources and schedules over the years, Kuchar effectively raised a team of Honor Flight experts so well that he can transition out of medical coordination and let paramedics take over.
Kuchar leaves behind more than that. While not officially a tour guide, he treats any nearby passengers with trivia and insight about each destination. Even as the day wound down and people grew tired from a full day of travel, Kuchar would perk up at every corner to share a tidbit about the sights whizzing by the bus. Every shared piece was as heartfelt as the last, and Kuchar made the most of his last venture to the nation’s capital with a troop of veterans with him.
As the bus left the National Mall,
Kuchar shared about himself with no more monuments to describe. His personal photo album is full of explorations in Russia, weeklong hikes in Scotland and intricate crafts made on his personal time for friends and family.
For his last flight, Kuchar got the spotlight for a brief moment on the plane ride home but was quick to turn the attention back to stars of the show. The happiness he derived from more than a decade of flying veterans brought him all the satisfaction he needed to leave the flying behind.
The veterans will reconvene to see their new friends again for a breakfast banquet in July. Many will likely bring their new challenge coins awarded to them on the flight home, a new addition to the many traditions of the Honor Flights.
The next Freedom Honor Flight will take off Sept. 21.
© 2024 the La Crosse Tribune (La Crosse, Wis.) Visit the La Crosse Tribune (La Crosse, Wis.) at www.lacrossetribune.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
