History lessons; Speaker brings home importance of Americans' connection to war casualties
Americans are and "shall forever be" connected to the fallen by love and obligation, retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Robert Arter told those attending a Memorial Day ceremony at the National Cemetery in Fort Scott.
"It seems to me that in the 21st century ... there is a cultural divide between soldiers and civilians," Arter said Monday. People think technology will take care of the fighting with minimal casualties.
People across the country are also being deprived of basic knowledge of civics because they don't read the Constitution. "Young people pass through high school and college without ever having read the Constitution," Arter said.
Drawing from the Constitution's preamble, Arter said the purpose of the vintage 1787 document is to form a more perfect union, establish justice and ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty.
"These words come heavy laden," said Arter, who is civilian aide to Secretary of the Army John McHugh in Kansas. He noted a "perfect union" wasn't formed right away, and we're still striving to establish balanced justice, although America is better than anyplace else in the world, and the country is also still struggling to secure the blessings of liberty to everyone.
One thing the U.S. should never ignore, though, is providing for the common defense, said Arter, who was highly decorated officer in during his career. "A nation founded with disdain for power has now become the most powerful, but will it remain so?" he said.
Looking ahead, Arter said, if we submit soldiers to battle, "We must support them unstintingly," he said, and if that means the general population must do with less, "so be it for the problem is only imagined.
"We must in every way ensure that our soldiers' fate" rests in the hands of intelligent commanders. To grasp the conspicuous clarity, one need only walk the graves of this beautiful cemetery and pause to give thought to one life among the many" and read slowly the names on the gravestones, Arter said.
Tim Barnett and his mother, Carol, both of Fort Scott, were two of at least 200 people attending the service. "I don't normally come, but I wanted to escort my mother," said Barnett, a U.S. Air Force veteran who served a total of four years in England and stateside in Georgia. "She always comes. I'm a veteran, so I wanted to participate. ... It was very nice."
Phyllis and Bryan Hunter traveled down from Lawrence to be here. "I was born in Fort Scott. My uncle is buried here, so I'm here with his wife (Virginia Chambers of La Cygne) and we're decorating the grave," Phyllis said.
She added they attend every year and they especially appreciated Arter's remarks.
Offering the invocation at the cemetery and a separate service on the Bourbon County Courthouse steps was the Rev. A.F. Collins of Independent Baptist Church.
Richard Wheeler, technician at Fort Scott National Cemetery, gave the welcome and was master of ceremonies.
Comments were offered by William Owensby Jr., director of Leavenworth National Cemetery. He said someone stopped him in Leavenworth and asked if he was speaking there. He said he was offering remarks in Fort Scott. "This has got to me the most patriotic town I've ever been to in my life," Owensby said. "This is America. It's middle America. It's what our country is all about."
Fifteen years ago, he said, the government was ready to shut down the national cemetery because it had run out of space, but local military fraternities stepped up and provided property to keep it open.
Now the government is doing "due diligence" -- an investigation by the government's engineers and cemetery designers -- to possibly purchase 12 acres located near the cemetery owned by Jan Spencer. There are seven or eight months left of an approximately year and a half process. "If we get the property, it will last us until the year 4000," Owensby said, adding that many cemeteries have had to close due to lack of space.
If the government obtains the land, Owensby said nothing will be done with it for a few years while assessments are conducted on existing buildings.
The cemetery is also in the process of a turf renovation. A contractor goes into a section and kills the grass, which takes about two weeks to do properly. A machine is then brought in to take out the grass and roots. The ground is smoothed by putting down topsoil, Owensby said.
Three or four acres have been completed so far, and plans are to redo the entire 21.5-acre cemetery.
Monday's ceremony was held under the auspices of American Legion Post 25, assisted by the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1165, Disabled American Veterans and Combat Infantrymen's Association.