High Desert Memorial Day 2018: Remember, honor, salute

This Memorial Day, Central Oregonians took a moment to honor those who gave their lives serving our country. Several events were held across the High Desert.

“Some of our country’s men and women have given the ultimate price to keep us free,” Floyd Leach, commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Madras Post 12421, said Monday.

People gathered at the Mt. Jefferson Memorial Cemetery to observe the day. The event was a first for the VFW post, but organizers want to make it an annual tradition.

Sisters also held a Memorial Day service.

“It’s important for veterans that are living to remember those that have gone before,” said John Ferguson, vice commander of Sisters American Legion Post 86.

Event attendees received their own piece of a retired American flag.

“Our groups, VFW and American Legion, are mostly retired veterans, and we still are very proud of our colors. That’s what we fought, and in some cases died for,” said Earl Schroeder, a member of both organizations.

A Memorial Day gathering at the La Pine Community Cemetery drew a crowd of about 100, including a young speaker who offered some perspective on the day.

“It’s often taken, for those who don’t understand, as a three-day weekend. ‘Let’s go camping. Let’s go do something,'” said La Pine High School student Trentyn Tennant.

” But being here, celebrating Memorial Day at the cemetery with those veterans and their families is just — it means so much more. And it’s such an honor being here with them,” Tennant said.

In Prinevile, the annual parade rolled through town past a sea of red, white and blue.

A crowd also gathered at Redmond Memorial Cemetery, where flags lined graves. And across Central Oregon, people took a moment to reflect.

“I think reverence to God and our country (is important). I believe it’s important to remember what sacrifices were made, who made them and why they were made,” said Dennis Guthrie, commander of Redmond’s Deschutes VFW Post 4108.

At Bend’s Deschutes Memorial Gardens, the Memorial Day ceremonies featured speeches, poppies, many fluttering flags and other familiar aspects of a ceremony that honors those who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.

Veteran Mark Wirges said he and other family members built the Vietnam War Memorial there in 1987. He said the act of remembering fallen soldiers is about both reverence and vigilance, and remembering what the day is really all about.

Also, at Troy Field in downtown Bend, volunteers spent the day reading more than 6,000 names of the American service members killed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the age and hometown, accompanied by the beat of a drum and their names on display across the green space.

Event organizer Tracy Miller said those who read the names include veterans, and it will take until late Monday night to complete the readings.