Memorial Day: 'A Day of Peace, Understanding and Concilation'

For many, May 31 marks the beginning of summer, where barbecues roar, children play and people look forward to the beach and a distant memory of winter. But the thunderous sound of gunfire into American flags in Memorial Park in Van Neste Square signified a greater moment–May 31 is dedicated to the courageous men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice, the men and women who fought on the fields of battle, never to return to the freedom they fought to preserve.

Hundreds gathered at Memorial Park in the west side of the square to commit this day to memory, led by American Legion local Post 53 and Commander Bob Paoli.

“The American Legion considers Memorial Day as a solemn day in which we grieve and pray for loved ones and all service men and women who given their lives: These men and women–who represent us abroad and put themselves in harm’s way for the benefit of others–represent what’s good, and they stand against evil,” Paoli said.

“They keep us safe at home, they allow us to move freely around our neighborhoods and towns without the fear of mortars or suicide bombers. To those wonderful men and women who said yes to serve our country and the world, they will never be forgotten.”

One soldier not forgotten was Master Sergeant Charles Ernest Hoskin Jr., who served in WWII and then remained in the military to join the Green Berets and served three tours of duty in Vietnam. He died there in 1963, by the Song Bo River. Hoskin received a Congressional Medal of Honor for his sacrifice and two of his daughters, Elizabeth Evans and Janice Brazil, spoke of the impact Memorial Day has on them.

“My grandmother taught me the meaning of Memorial Day,” Evans said. “My grandmother, Louella Hosking, who lived in Ramsey for 103 years, referred to it as Decoration Day."

Evans suspects her father would want her father to have been buried in Arlington Cemetery in Washington D.C. but it was important for her grandmother to be close, where daughter and grandmother would plant red geraniums in remembrance, in decoration.

Along with sister Janice and ten others, Evans took a trip in 2003 to travel to Vietnam to see the sites the Master Sergeant had seen, and to honor him in the place he had died.

“We traced the steps of our fathers in villages and on battlefields. We went to Vietnam in honor of peace, understanding and reconciliation. We decorated our fathers’ graves,” she said, adding that her heart was "in her throat" by the River Song Bo, laying down flowers by the riverbank near where he died.

“I think my father’s soul moves back and forth between the U.S. and Vietnam."

For Evans, the moment was significant and one she will use to teach her Grandchildren of. Evans called on others to memorialize those they know.

“It’s a day to remember, reflect and honor those who gave our lives to the service of our country,” she said.

Although it is their story, her sister Janice Brazil said the story has been “repeated by families across our nation and in their own fashion for every war and conflict America has and continues to be involved with.”

She implored the crowd to remember that the date itself is important, but the act of memorializing that makes all the difference.

“It is only in the act of memorializing can we truly value our freedoms,” she said.

Councilwoman Bernadette Walsh told the crowd she has one image of Memorial Day burned into her memory. While there were countless backyard barbecues, she hardly remembered honoring our war dead. All except one.

“But the one memory, if I can call it that, is of the Buddy Poppy that my father always had hanging from his rear-view mirror in his car. As an adolescent, I questioned my father as to why he always had one or more of this little paper flower prominently displayed in his car." Walsh said her father explained that poppies grew in the ravaged landscape of WWI battlefields in Belgium, where nothing else could.

“This simple gesture by my father, a veteran of WWII, whose own father fought in WWI, is the lasting memory of all those who gave their lives for this country we call the United States of America.

So I ask you today,” Walsh said, “to seek out a veteran, obtain a flower. And when you wear or display your poppy, do it proudly.”

“We are enjoying the peace and freedom they fought so hard to provide for us. There’s a big price to pay for freedom, but failing to preserve it is far more costly,” Paoli said before the Ridgewood High School Band played the final military songs, the 113 names of those in Ridgewood who had fallen were read by high school students considering careers in the military, and gunshots blasted into flags.

Under a half-mast flag with salutes, Paoli said, “May God bless them, their families, and may God bless you all for caring enough to be here today.”