Ceremony in West Palm honors late veterans
Ceremony at VA Medical Center honors veterans who died in past year.
Family of fallen veterans gather at West Palm Beach VA Medical Center for the Last Roll Call Ceremony of Remembrance.
WEST PALM BEACH — Through teary eyes and with cracking voices, family members of fallen veterans walked to the front of the room, placed a white flower in a vase and spoke the name of their loved one.
They gathered Thursday at the West Palm Beach VA Medical Center for the Last Roll Call Ceremony of Remembrance, to honor and celebrate veterans who have died during the past year.
One by one the flowers began to fill the vase and, after family members returned to their pews inside the main chapel at the center, Mike Bloomberg entered from the back and played “Amazing Grace” on his bagpipes.
Once the song was finished, Bloomberg, a captain with Fort Lauderdale Fire-Rescue, re-established his position just beyond the open chapel doors and began to wipe tears from his eyes.
“It was a little tough for me because my dad is going through some stuff right now,” said Bloomberg, whose father served in the Air Force during the Vietnam War and is currently facing health complications. “For a couple of seconds, I almost didn’t get through it.”
Bloomberg’s emotion was echoed by not only the family members but also by the VA staff who have deep-rooted bonds with the veterans who pass through their doors.
“This year was particularly much more poignant for me because I was in the trenches taking care of a lot of these veterans who passed away,” said Dr. Deepak Mandi, the associate chief of staff for geriatrics and hospice. “Every time it is hard, but at the same time we are going to celebrate their life.”
The veterans’ stories told were filled with experiences from wars fought decades ago, to events that shaped their lives. Family members said that their loved ones’ experiences of war took a physical toll and, in some cases, emotional ones, which affected family life. Some said their loved ones were unwilling to recount their experiences.
“There have been, on occasion, those that have never talked about their history and I’ve written it down because they are amazing,” said Chaplain Kim House.
House, a retired Navy chaplain who works at the VA, recalled one veteran who shared his story with her. “Chaplain, it’s off my shoulders and it’s on yours now,” she said he told her.
“It was over a period of about eight hours of interviews, and me writing his story and bringing his daughter in and having her read it,” said House. “She recognized, because of the story, that she understood her father more after all these years and then understood why he did certain things that he was never able to explain to her and it drew them closer at the end.
“It was very powerful, and I’ll go to my grave with that story.”
Thursday’s ceremony served to provide an outlet for grieving family members while honoring the service and sacrifice of the veterans who died.
“Their loved one is still with them,” said Lynnea Valpatic, the medical center’s bereavement coordinator, whose father was a World War II Marine. “They are always going to honor them, and honor their memory, it’s just in a different realm.”