Memorial Day

There could be more, but I think there are only two memorials to William Bernard Baugh here in Lincoln County; a roadside historical marker in McKinney recording that town as Baugh’s birthplace, and a picture in the courthouse. I’ve always been surprised that we didn’t do more to honor the county’s only Medal of Honor recipient. Sunday, The New York Times ran a fantastic article about the nation’s highest military decoration by Katherine Zoepf that brought Baugh’s case to mind, and I sit here typing, typing, typing on Memorial Day saddened and a little disgusted by the situation at hand.

Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3634 and American Legion Post 18 have been asked to perform the Opening Flag Ceremony on Memorial Day at the Boyle County Fairgrounds. The event is to celebrate the opening of the fair as well as a Memorial Day tribute to Armed Forces men and women. The event will take place at Floral Hall, at the top of the hill at the fairgrounds at 6:30 p.m. Monday. VFW members and the VFW ladies auxiliary, as well as Post 18 Honor Guard, will present the program. Everyone is invited to take part.

The Advocate-Messenger will not publish on Memorial Day, May 26. Publication will resume on Tuesday on the normal weekday schedule.

First known as Decoration Day, Memorial Day has been observed with dignity and honor since 1868. At first, it was a time to honor veterans of the Civil War by decorating their graves, but as the years passed, the purpose of Memorial Day was expanded and made more inclusive. Now, it is a time to decorate the graves and remember the sacrificial service of all American veterans who, at any time, served their country. This year Memorial Day, a legal holiday, will be observed on Monday, May 26. While this day will be observed in one way or another by almost everyone, it will be observed in many ways.

Dear Editor: After the stirring drums have gone silent, after the measured steps of the elegantly dressed members of the marching bands have stopped, and after the colorful parades, large or small, have ended, people, somber and subdued, will gather at designated spots in the silent cities of the dead. Dignitaries will either mount improvised stages or merely stand at some convenient places, and oratorical flourishes, eloquent and patriotic, will remind the assembled crowds of the extraordinary significance of the somber occasion that brings them together.

The Jessamine County Board of Education will consider removing Memorial Day (May 30) from the school schedule after it heard concern that having school on the holiday would conflict with family memorials for members of the armed forces who died in combat. Memorial Day was the fifth of eight scheduled make-up days in the school calendar for the 2010-2011 school year. The cancellation of school Monday was the eighth snow day in the school year, with four coming in December and four so far in January.

When the public pool’s open, everything’s on sale, and it’s acceptable to break out the white sandals — yes, it’s Memorial Day. Sadly, to many Americans that’s all the meaning the day holds. Memorial Day has become no more than the occasion for the long weekend that signals the beginning of summer. It’s an opportunity for picnics, vacations, gasoline price hikes, and sold-out condos at the beaches. But it used to mean much more than that.

FRANKFORT - In his address following the battle at Gettysburg, Kentucky native President Abraham Lincoln stated that we as Americans need “…to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.” Lincoln went on to say in his Gettysburg address, “It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us - that from these honored dead we may take increased devotion to...

STANFORD - A Memorial Day Celebration will begin noon Thursday at St. Asaph Creek behind the courthouse annex. A tree will be planted and a plaque provided for $50, which leaves a lasting remembrance and beautifies St. Asaph Creek. A cookout also will be held, which is sponsored by First Southern Bank for Relay for Life. For more information, call (606) 365-4518.

I had never heard the names of Louis Zamperini and Russel Allen Phillips until my pastor gave me the book, “Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption,” by author Laura Hillenbrand, who wrote “Seabiscuit: An American Legend.” But as I delved into the 473 pages of the book, I was stirred and inspired. The book tells the story of Zamperini, an Olympic runner who competed in the 1936 Berlin summer games. Like many Americans of his generation, Zamperini joined the U.S. Army Air Forces as a bombardier on a B-24 Liberator bomber, where he met Phillips, his pilot.

Camp Nelson National Cemetery is gearing up for the holiday weekend, during which it will present its annual Memorial Day program starting at 11 a.m. on Monday. The program will honor all members of the military who have served or who are currently serving the nation. Patrick Lovett, director of the Camp Nelson cemetery, said that he expects a steady stream of visitors over the weekend. He estimated that the cemetery averages 1,200-1,600 people for the program itself. The annual event will feature patriotic music by the West Jessamine High School Band and keynote speaker David Preston.

As Jenny Tarter was helping getting the final preparations ready for Saturday's Jennie Carol's Memorial Mother's Day 5K Run, she had a conversation with one of those who helps make the Centre College track available to race organizers for the event's finish. “He told me that his wife has just finished two rounds of chemotherapy for breast cancer and had lost her hair. He wondered if he could buy one of the (award winner) hats for her,” said Jenny Tarter. “He thought she would like it more than her wig.  “We talked about her race and journey and that award winner 2013 would be perfectly appropriate.

There's really no way for the organizers of Jennie Carol Memorial Mother's Day Run to know exactly how the Boston Marathon bombings and subsequent hunt for those responsible could impact their May 11 race in downtown Danville. It has become the area's biggest road race, averaging more than 500 participants the last four years to honor the memory of Jennie Carol Black Tarter, who started running in 2005 and finished the 2007 and '08 Kentucky Derby Festival mini-marathons in Louisville.

100 years ago - 1912 Fifty years ago, a band of devoted and patriotic students, as much in love with life as any who are now attending Centre College, went out from this honored institution and offered themselves freely to their country. Those who survived that fiery trial were launched too rapidly into manhood to return here.  So, whether they lived or died, they gave their lives that we might be what we are today, a nation united and freed from the things that had so long divided us. On May 30, the government wisely has set apart for the commemoration of the men who fought to preserve the liberty and integrity and brotherhood of our glorious country.

Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3634 and American Legion Post 18 have been asked to perform the Opening Flag Ceremony on Memorial Day at the Boyle County Fairgrounds. The event is to celebrate the opening of the fair as well as a Memorial Day tribute to Armed Forces men and women. The event will take place at Floral Hall, at the top of the hill at the fairgrounds at 6:30 p.m. Monday. VFW members and the VFW ladies auxiliary, as well as Post 18 Honor Guard, will present the program. Everyone is invited to take part.

FRANKFORT - In his address following the battle at Gettysburg, Kentucky native President Abraham Lincoln stated that we as Americans need “…to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.” Lincoln went on to say in his Gettysburg address, “It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us - that from these honored dead we may take increased devotion to...

PLEASANT HILL - Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill will host the 2012 Chamber Music Festival of the Bluegrass May 26 and 27.   The festival will include four concerts featuring artists from New York's Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (CMS). The annual festival has become known as a weekend-long experience bringing New York's finest chamber musicians to a uniquely Kentucky setting.  CMS artistic directors, cellist David Finckel and pianist Wu Han, are thrilled to be returning for their sixth year as festival directors.

Memorial Day ignored To the editor: The only reference I could find to a Memorial Day event in the Sun was in the weekly calendar of events the Friday before. No article. Sad. There was a quarter-page picture of the Tomb of the Unknowns on page B4 above the comics on Saturday. Sad. On Memorial Day, the event at the courthouse was organized by, and attended by, veterans and maybe two city officials — a very small gathering. Sad. I’ve lived in many places around this great country in my life.

CAMP NELSON — Like many headstones throughout Camp Nelson National Cemetery, that of Army veteran Russell Lee James’ was decorated with a small American flag and flowers. And his hat, which read 199th Infantry Brigade, sat proudly on top of the headstone. His widow, Ann James of Nicholasville, sat in a lawn chair watching and remembering on Memorial Day. “He served in Vietnam when a lot of people took the easy way out and went to Canada,” she said. “He felt like it was his duty to serve his country.” In another part of the cemetery, the family of James Thomas Lake also paid their respects to the Navy veteran.