Ross recounts personal experiencesduring local Memorial Day ceremonies

By DUANE SHERRILL / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard

James Green, left, and Herb Klasek salute the flag during local Memorial Day observances Monday morning at Warren County Memorial Airport. A near record crowd was on hand for the 7 a.m. event. (Duane Sherrill photos)

Recalling his brief encounter in a delta in Vietnam with a fellow McMinnvillian who did not return from action overseas, Judge Larry Ross reminded those on hand at the local Memorial Day observance of the reverence of the day.

“They were just kids, many 18 and 19 year-olds, doing their jobs, serving their country, and many never got to come home,” said Ross during his address to a near record crowd assembled for morning ceremonies Monday at Warren County Memorial Airport. “This is a day for us to stop from our busy lives and remember those who are no longer with us.”

Ross recalled his short friendship with Johnny Laverne Whiteaker, a friendship they pledged to continue when they returned “to the world” from Vietnam.

“He told me he was from a small town in Tennessee, a place he doubted I’d ever heard of, a place named McMinnville,” Ross recalled of the chance meeting during their service in Vietnam. “The sad part is I never saw him again.”

Whiteaker was among the names read by American Legion Commander Ivey Hillis during his reading of the war dead, which included 130 names of those who died from World War I to present. Most were lost during World War II which claimed 75 locals, ahead of World War I in which 28 from this community died in service to their country. There were 16 Warren countians killed in Korea and 11 in Vietnam.

Memorial Day has been observed since 1886 when the day was set aside to lay flowers in memory of the Civil War dead.

In view of the long standing tradition, Ross questioned what Memorial Day has become for many people.

“It’s not a national day of shopping or a day for people to get a great deal on a car,” Ross said, noting it is events like those at the airport Monday morning which continue the tradition of honoring those who have fallen in service to their country.

The observance, which is traditionally one of the first Memorial Day events in the state beginning each year at 7 a.m., drew well around 200 people despite predictions of rain, which gave way to clear skies and a large and loud gaggle of geese which flew over the grounds at the beginning of ceremonies.

The event also included the laying of flowers at the airport war memorial and the 21-gun salute and Taps offered by the honor guard of VFW Post 5064 and American Legion Post 173.