Valpo observes Veterans Day with reciting of names, wreath ceremony
The names of Valparaiso’s veterans lost to five different wars fell upon 100 sets of ears gathered at The Service Memorial at Valparaiso’s Foundation Meadows Park Friday morning to honor their sacrifice. The black granite wall holds 166 names.
While the fallen veterans from more recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Vietnam, perhaps even the Korean War and World War II, likely regularly pass the lips of those who knew and loved them, Friday’s reading of the names of the 15 veterans lost to World War I may be the only time their names are still uttered. “It takes a few minutes, but it is a very important part of our community to honor our members,” said John Seibert, director of Valparaiso Parks and Recreation.
Aaron Treble, a 1990 Valparaiso High School graduate and U.S. Air Force veteran, reflected on his eight years of military service during which he served in Kuwait. “I grew up and became a man in the military,” he said.
The avionic systems specialist served from 1990 to 1998, ending his tenure as a staff sergeant.
He worked on F-16 and F-117 Stealth fighters, and spent time in the two extreme climates of Alaska and Kuwait.
Treble told the crowd he lived in a tent for year, received anthrax vaccinations every two weeks during his time in Kuwait, and also walked past missiles pointed at the sky every day during his time in South Korea. He worked 364 consecutive 12-hours shifts during the Gulf War, and had to recover almost 900 pieces of a pilot’s body after his aircraft crashed.
Despite all that, he said it’s awkward when people thank him for his service. “I wonder how other veterans feel when they’re thanked for their service. It’s like being thanked for winning the lottery,” he said of the experience that gave him so much. “That said, I always appreciate the sentiment.”
John Patston IV, 16, has the sentiment down. “We come every year,” he said of his family. He and his mom and 11-year-old sister Aubrey watched his dad, Valparaiso Police Lt. John Patston III, lead the Valparaiso Police Honor Guard.
“It’s important to take some time to honor all the people who lost their lives for us so we can have a daily routine,” the younger Patston added. His dad served in the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division during Operation Enduring Freedom after the bombing of the World Trade Center and ended his military career as a sergeant.
Linda Berner and her husband Bruce, of Valparaiso, were in attendance to honor her uncle Julius Bowen, an Army veteran from Gary. “We bought a brick for my uncle who was in the Korean War,” she said. The memorial has been in existence since 2003.
Wreaths were laid by Valparaiso Mayor Matt Murphy, as well as the William Henry Harrison Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and the playing of taps.
The Rev. Rich Schmidt of Living Hope Community Church offered the benediction, asking for blessings not only to fallen veterans, but those who have returned. “Some have returned home to us who have suffered in ways we’ll never know,” he said, asking that God let them know “that while their fellow human beings may fail to understand, that you see them, that you know.”