Cairo Association of Teachers - Newsletter

CAT Tracks for May 27, 2007 ETERNAL THANKS

From the Southern Illinoisan...

Post Commanders Floyd Cavanaugh, Gene Dixon, Don Cox, and David Baldwin (from left) work to lower the flag to half staff during the Memorial Day ceremony at the Mound City National Cemetery Saturday morning. STEVE JAHNKE / THE SOUTHERN

Eternal Thanks

BY BECKY MALKOVICH, THE SOUTHERN

The day before he shipped out as an Army conscript during the Vietnam War, Cairo native Jack Buie stopped by his grandmother's home in Mounds.

Knowing he was nervous about the path he was about to travel, Buie's grandmother urged him to visit nearby Mound City National Cemetery.

"Be humble and grateful. There's great magic there," she told him.

As he walked the grounds where thousands are buried, he said he could feel the history. This, after all, was land purchased in 1862 for a national cemetery by Abraham Lincoln who was empowered to do so by Congress.

More than 35 years later, Buie was back at the cemetery offering his remarks as guest speaker during the annual Memorial Day ceremony. Buie, a 1968 graduate of Cairo High School who also attended Shawnee Community College, Southern Illinois University and DePaul University, initially trained as a sentinel and walked the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery before a promotion to duties in the White House and Pentagon.

As Firing Party Commander, Buie gave commands for the final 21-gun salute at the televised funerals of President Harry S. Truman and President Lyndon B. Johnson.

In his speech before a crowd of more than 200 people Saturday, Buie said, "We stand at the focal point of reality: indestructible monuments of brass, marble and stone, dedicated to an eternal testament of thankfulness and prayers for all those who have given their service and their lives, so that all Americans can enjoy the wondrous privileges created by our forefathers. These magnificent privileges, forged in the crucible of war, tempered in national struggle for equality of all, engraved in our minds by grateful parents and educators, summed into the single mightiest word of them all, liberty."

The ceremony conducted by the Mound City National Cemetery Preservation Commission, also included a presentation of colors, lowering of the flag, laying of the wreath and a rifle and cannon salute.

Michael B. Pierpoint of Marion portrayed a Civil War Captain during the ceremony.

"My own grandfather fought in World War II and my great-grandfather in the Civil War. Even though they are not here, I think of their past and I have to lift that up," he said. "Memorial Day causes us to remember our past, and to remember that freedom is not free."

A Confederate memorial service was held later Saturday afternoon by the Sons of Confederate Veterans and included a dedication of a Confederate monument.