BROWNSTOWN — A small but dedicated group of people that included veterans gathered Sunday afternoon at Fairview Cemetery in Brownstown to remember the sacrifices of those who gave their all for freedom.
The Rev. James Blankenbeker, the featured speaker for the annual Memorial Day service, talked about the important of why America celebrates Memorial Day each year.
“As I spoke with someone before the service, the younger generation hasn’t quite grasped necessarily the importance of the meaning of a day like this,” he said. “It is to remember those who gave everything for the freedoms that we have. It is good that we are gathered here today for this.”
Blankenbeker, pastor of Brownstown Presbyterian Church and a former hospital chaplain, said as a veteran, he knows the sacrifices all service members must endure.
“That is what we are here to remember today,” he said.
As a pastor thinking about Memorial Day, Blankenbeker said the Bible is filled with memorials.
“Jacob’s stone pillar that he set up after he had that conservation with God before he poured wine over and anointed the pillar with oil, that was a memorial of remembrance of the Jewish feast, all of them on the Jewish calendar,” he said. “Those are memorials of what God has done and a reminder of the covenant God still has with God’s people.
“Or even like the Indiana Jones movie, the Ark of the Covenant, which had power with the Israelites when they carried it into battle when they won. And in it were the words of God, the Ten Commandments and it was a powerful symbol.”
Blankenbeker said memorials are good.
“They remind us of what is important,” he said. “Although today is not a memorial for a religious commitment, it is a memorial for those who paid the ultimate sacrifice in defense of our freedoms as well as freedoms abroad.
“I’ve seen memorials all over Jackson County. I moved here back in September of 2019, and at the historical society here in Brownstown, there’s a memorial even for those who fought in the Revolutionary War. So this town and this county have always honored those who have served and especially those who have died. Memorials matters. This day matters.”
Memorial Day is a solemn day of remembrance for the ultimate price paid by men and women who have served, fought and died for the country and freedom-loving people everywhere, he said.
”It is important to gather at ceremonies like this, one because it is important to acknowledge freedom is not free. It never is. Freedom costs, and unfortunately, it costs lives,” he said.
Blankenbeker also discussed a letter John Adams, the nation’s second president, wrote to his wife in 1777 in the earliest stages of the Revolutionary War.
Adams asked for the present generation to preserve their freedom.
“I hope you will make good use of it,” Adams wrote.
And then he adds one more sentence as if he was seeing into the future or something, Blankenbeker said.
“He adds, ‘If you do not make good use of the hard-fought sacrifice for the freedom that this generation had, I shall repent in heaven that I ever took half the pains to preserve it,’” he said. “He’s willing to roll over in his grave and repent in heaven having fought for our freedoms if we do not keep them. That’s why remembrances like Memorial Day matter because we have inherited our present freedoms and they are not promised to us.”
The service began with a welcome by Marine Corps veteran Marvin Hash of Freetown, who also led the Pledge of Allegiance. Barry Cutter of Brownstown followed with the invocation, followed by veteran Glen Killey raising the American flag. An honor guard that included members of American Legion Post 89 and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1925 provided a 21-gun salute followed by the playing of “Taps.”