“Observations”©

Donald S. Conkey

Date: May 21, 2009 - 9921 – Woodstock to dedicate new Veteran’s Monument on Memorial Day (808)

        Monday is a national holiday; it will be Memorial Day 2009. When I was a boy this holiday was known as Decoration Day in the northern states and Confederate Day in the southern states. On most Decoration Days my Mother would take her family to the several cemeteries where our kindred dead were buried and there we would spruce up the family plot, plant flowers and ponder the lives of our ancestors. When I began writing family history books I returned often to those cemeteries to gather the data embedded on those tombstones.

       Many families still use Memorial Day to do as mother did, spruce up the family plot, place flowers on the graves and share memories of their ancestors with their children. But because families are more scattered today Memorial Day has become more a day to honor America’s veterans, especially those who were killed while defending America’s freedoms on far away battle fields. On Monday small American flags will be placed on thousands of military graves in every military cemetery in America, including our own beautiful National Cemetery near Sutallee, the national cemetery Joan and I expect will be our cemetery of choice.   

       But loved ones who have crossed that bridge from mortality to immortality are never far from our thoughts. Joan’s father served in the military for 35 years, from World War I through the Korean War and is, along with Joan’s mother, buried in the Fort Douglas National Cemetery in Salt Lake City. And because daughter Pamela was in Utah recently Joan remembered and was able to have her place flowers near their headstone. Son Donald Jr., at age 11, was killed 41 years ago in an automobile accident. Grandson Ryan, daughter Pamela’s oldest son, died nearly 38 years ago at age six months. Their memories continue to live on in our hearts, and like millions of others who have lost loved ones too early, they are never far from us.

       And in addition to the many flags that will be placed on veteran’s graves here in Cherokee County on Memorial Day there will be another unique activity in Woodstock that is sure to be remembered for years to come – a new granite monument will be unveiled Monday in a Memorial Day Service in the Woodstock Park at 10 a.m. It will be a monument dedicated to those service people of Woodstock who served and died serving their county in the several wars since 1918.

       This monument is a-dream-come-true for Woodstock Mayor Donnie Henriques. He took his dream, a dream the mayor felt the city could and should do for Woodstock’s veterans, to the city council. The council concurred, approved funding and the mayor appointed a committee to come up with ideas and approve a monument design. The committee met a number of times before finally recommending a design submitted by Robert P. Young of Canton. One of the stipulations was that the monument had to be in place by Memorial Day 2009. And it was! It is on site and in place and will be unveiled Monday at 10 a.m. with a ceremony open to the public. To provide the name of this monument in this column would defeat the purpose and excitement of the unveiling ceremony. But I do encourage every reader to attend the ceremony, along with their families, in Woodstock City Park and there gaze upon the exquisiteness of Woodstock’s new veteran’s monument. As you ponder this striking monument feel the presence of those veterans this monument represents and try to more fully understand the sacrifice those individuals made so that you and I can enjoy the unprecedented liberties and freedoms this nation has provided its citizens ever since 1787, when 56 inspired men hammered out a written constitution, that included a mission statement, that changed the world for good.

       Twelve men and women served on this committee. It was an honor to be asked to serve on this committee that was charged with finding an appropriate design that would honor Woodstock’s veterans. And it was an interesting assignment, an assignment that I will remember every time I gaze upon this monument that will stand majestically in the Woodstock City Park.

       As a family historian I have looked at thousands of family monuments (tombstones) over the past 50 years and found each monument distinct in its own right. Many of them have special words carved in them that help descendents remember the character and goodness of their departed ones.

       Such is this Veteran’s Monument that will be unveiled on Monday in Woodstock City Park at 10 a.m. It will be a reminder to all who gaze upon its splendor in the years to come of the price of peace and freedom – the blood of American men and women who were willing to spill their blood to protect you and me.