'How much we owe them'
CAROLINE LOBSINGER | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 7 years, 10 months AGO
(Photo by CAROLINE LOBSINGER) Cary Kelly, a retired Marine Corps colonel, pauses as he speaks during Monday’s Memorial Day services at Lakeview Cemetery in Sandpoint. Kelly recalled the death of his best friend on a mountainous jungletop in Vietnam and told those gathered it is important to always remember and honor those who gave their lives in service to their country.
(Photo by CAROLINE LOBSINGER) A family reads the gravestones of Bonner County soldiers before the start of Memorial Day services Monday at Pinecrest Memorial Park in Sandpoint.
(Photo by CAROLINE LOBSINGER) Scouts from Troop 308 unfurl the American flag at the start of Memorial Day services at Pinecrest Memorial Park in Sandpoint.
(Photo by CAROLINE LOBSINGER) Residents ready for the start of Memorial Day services Monday at Pinecrest Memorial Park in Sandpoint.
(Photo by CAROLINE LOBSINGER) A man reads the grave of a veteran before the start of Memorial Day services Monday at Pinecrest Memorial Park in Sandpoint.
(Photo by CAROLINE LOBSINGER) Bill Stevens gets ready for the start of Memorial Day services Monday at Pinecrest Memorial Park in Sandpoint.
(Photo by CAROLINE LOBSINGER) A man reads the gravestones of veterans before the start of Memorial Day services Monday at Pinecrest Memorial Park in Sandpoint.
(Photo by CAROLINE LOBSINGER) American flags wave in a gentle breeze before the start of Memorial Day services Monday at Pinecrest Memorial Park in Sandpoint.
(Photo by CAROLINE LOBSINGER) Marine Corps League members ready for the start of Memorial Day services Monday at Pinecrest Memorial Park in Sandpoint.
(Photo by CAROLINE LOBSINGER) Marine Corps League members fire their rifles as part of a 21-gun salute to lost comrades during Memorial Day services Monday at Pinecrest Memorial Park in Sandpoint.
(Photo by CAROLINE LOBSINGER) Arnie Benda afixes a sticker to his uncle's grave to signify he is a veteran before the start of Memorial Day services Monday at Pinecrest Memorial Park in Sandpoint. The sticker will ensure a flag is placed at the grave next Memorial Day.
(Photo by CAROLINE LOBSINGER) Troop 308 scouts get ready to raise the American flag at the start of Memorial Day services Monday at Pinecrest Memorial Park in Sandpoint.
(Photo by CAROLINE LOBSINGER) Retired Marine Corps Col. Cary Kelly tells those gathered why it is important to honor those who paid the ultimate sacrificie during Monday's Memorial Day services at Pinecrest Memorial Park in Sandpoint.
(Photo by CAROLINE LOBSINGER) Scouts from Troop 308 take part in Monday's Memorial Day services at Pinecrest Memorial Park in Sandpoint.
(Photo by CAROLINE LOBSINGER) Gerri Harvill reads the invocation at the start of Memorial Day services Monday at Pinecrest Memorial Park in Sandpoint.
(Photo by CAROLINE LOBSINGER) Scouts from Troop 308 take part in Monday's Memorial Day services at Lakeview Cemetery in Sandpoint.
(Photo by CAROLINE LOBSINGER) A rose and an American flag decorate the final resting place of a Bonner County soldier at Lakeview Cemetery in Sandpoint.
(Photo by CAROLINE LOBSINGER) Scouts from Troop 308 take part in Monday's Memorial Day services at Lakeview Cemetery in Sandpoint.
(Photo by CAROLINE LOBSINGER) A young scout from Troop 308 plays "Taps" at the conclusion of Monday's Memorial Day services at Lakeview Cemetery in Sandpoint.
(Photo by CAROLINE LOBSINGER) A young scout from Troop 308 takes part in Monday's Memorial Day services at Lakeview Cemetery in Sandpoint.
(Photo by CAROLINE LOBSINGER) Scout Troop 308 leaders salute as they take part in Monday's Memorial Day services at Lakeview Cemetery in Sandpoint.
I grew up in the Tri-Cities, Wash., and have always loved to write. I attended the University of Washington, where I earned a double major in journalism and political science, with an area of emphasis in history. I am the fifth out of six kids — don't believe any of the stories that my siblings tell. To be able to tell others stories and take photos for a living is a dream come true — and I considered myself blessed to be a community journalist. When I am not working, I enjoy spending time with family and friends, hiking and spending time outdoors, genealogy, reading, and watching the UW Huskies and the Seattle Seahawks. I am a servant to my cat, Frankie, who yes, will eat anything and everything in sight … even wedding cookies. | May 30, 2017 1:00 AM
SANDPOINT — There isn’t a day that goes by when he doesn’t think of his best friend. Both were young Marine lieutenants; he fresh out of grad school and 24 years old and his friend about the same age.
On a jungled mountaintop in Vietnam, his friend was killed.
On Memorial Day — and every day — Cary Kelly, a retired Marine Corps colonel, said he remembers his friend and the sacrifice he made.
“We can honor all veterans on Veterans Day and all the armed forces on Armed Forces Day but today is a very special day to recognize a group of veterans that we owe so much to so let us reflect on our ancestors, our spouses, our husbands, our neighbors, our friends, people who have given the ultimate sacrifice in our conflicts and our wars,” he told those gathered for Memorial Day tributes at Lakeview and Pinecrest cemeteries in Sandpoint.
“I am remembering my best friend today, and every day. It was 51 years ago in the jungles of Vietnam on a mountaintop that he lost his life.”
On that particular day, they stumbled across a division of North Vietnamese regulars who had slipped across the demilitarized zone.
“It looked like a while there, for a night or two, that we were going to be overrun by the enemy. We were surrounded but thanks to close air support, we survived and got through the night. However, casualties were high and my best friend,” Kelly said, his voice breaking momentarily, “died that day.”
As the years have gone by, Kelly said he realizes what a wonderful life he’s had by any standard. “It just makes one realize what these young Marines lost, what they gave up that day and how much we owe them,” he said. “I was able to raise my children, watch them grow up and have families of their own, to watch and enjoy my grandchildren and enjoy the many blessings of life with my wife of 52 years.”
Those young Marines, including his best friend, never had that chance.
“They were gone in an instant like all the others we celebrate today from all of our wars. These are really are true heroes,” Kelly said before reading the poem, ‘The Last Monday in May by John T. Bird. “On the last Monday in May let us never forget the parents, the siblings, the widows, the widowers, and the orphans of our fallen comrades.”
The Memorial Day tributes were lead off by a service at Seneacquoteen Cemetery, followed by tributes at Pinecrest Memorial Park and Lakeview Cemetery in Sandpoint, and Evergreen Cemetery in Priest River. The services attracted several dozen or more at each of the celebrations, held to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice in giving their lives in service to their country.
For the invocation, the ceremonies featured the 1994 Marion G. Mahoney poem, “Those Honored Dead.” At Pinecrest, the poem was read by Gerri Harvill and by Boy Scout Hunter Smith at Lakeview Cemetery.
In response to a grandchild’s query on why the flag was flying, the unnamed grandparent responds says it is being flown in respect for the countless crosses at graveyards, for the children whose fathers are a picture with a frame.
“I fly it for the families of sons and daughters lost. They know the price of liberty, how terrible the cost. I fly it for the veterans who lost their youth in blood, and saw their comrades slaughtered in the carnage and the mud,” the poem goes on to say.
The grandparent tells the grandson that the flag honors those who died in past wars, and recognizes the grief caused by their deaths.
“I fly it for the sound of Taps — that melancholy tune that lays to rest those honored dead who always die too soon,” the poem concludes.
Memorial Day is observed on the last Monday of May, honoring the men and women who died in service of the U.S. military. Originally known as Decoration Day, it originated in the years following the Civil War and became an official federal holiday in 1971, according to history.com.
The Civil War, which ended in the spring 1865, resulted in the most deaths of any American conflict and required the establishment of the country’s first national cemeteries. By the late 1860s, various communities began holding tributes in the late spring to honor those killed, decorating their graves with flowers and reciting prayers.
Started in response to a call by General John A. Logan, leader of a group for Union Civil War veterans, Decoration Day as it would come to be called because it marked no set battle would honor those who died in the great war. At the first tribute, General James Garfield spoke at Arlington National Cemetery, and 5,000 participants decorated the graves of the 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers buried there.
Following World War I, the holiday evolved to honor all American military personnel who died in service to their country. For decades, Memorial Day continued to be held on May 30, but in 1968, Congress passed the Uniform Monday Holiday Act, which established Memorial Day as the last Monday in May to create a three-day weekend for federal employees. The law, which went into effect in 1971, also declared Memorial Day a federal holiday, according to history.com.
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