A Few Of FR's Finest....Every Day....05-26-03....Memorial Day - Remembering SSGT. Richard A. Fitts

dansangel

[Diver Dave]

Flags, flowers and balloons decorate graves at San Joaquin National Cemetery as loved ones pay their respects Sunday.

San Joaquin National Cemetery lies amid the western hills of California's Great Central Valley. The cemetery does not have the groomed lawns so often associated with National Cemeteries, but instead bears resemblance to the surrounding countryside.

From today's Modesto Bee... photographs by Ted Benson...

SANTA NELLA -- Under a brilliant blue sky with white mare's-tail clouds, hundreds of small American flags snapped in the wind at the San Joaquin Valley National Cemetery.

"It's a day to remember those who died," said Stephanie Mason, who came from Modesto with her mother, her husband, Bob, and their sons Tommy and Timmy for Sunday's Memorial Day ceremony.

Her father Paul Kish, a veteran of World War II and the Korean War, is buried there.

Flowers and flags fluttered on the graves amid the yellow hills. A balloon tugged at its string.

"Look, someone has brought a newspaper," Truoc T. Scheidt, 61, said to Robert Silva, 75. A neatly rolled Sunday paper was left, with flowers, at one grave.

Scheidt, a veteran's widow, and Silva, a widowed veteran, met at the cemetery three years ago, they said.

"Now, we use Memorial Day as our anniversary," Silva said. "It's funny how life is."

He placed one bunch of the pink hydrangeas on the grave of Can- dida, his wife of 43 years.

Scheidt placed the other hydrangeas on the grave of her husband, World War II veteran Alvin H. Scheidt.

Candida Silva and Alvin Scheidt died two weeks apart in 1998 and were buried next to each other.

After arranging the flowers, Truoc Scheidt and Robert Silva unfolded their chairs and sat to visit the graves.

Hundreds of others gathered at a rippling memorial pool for a ceremony.

"To give part of your life to serve your country, whether one year or 30 years, is the definition of heroism," the Navy's Javier Hinojos, of the USS Shiloh, told the crowd.

Carla Williams, the cemetery's director, asked those present to observe a moment of silence in honor of those who died for their country.

No military planes flew over the sun-bleached hills, although they usually do.

The flyover was omitted for national security reasons, master of ceremonies Brian Griffin said.

Songs remind Korean War vets

Korean War veterans gathered afterward to hold their own remembrance -- complete with music many of them hadn't heard since Korea.

"If that's scratchy, it's because those are off of old 78-rpm records that are 50 years old," Lew Horyza said of a jazzy tape, with a woman singing in Japanese.

Horyza, president of the Santa Clara Chapter of the Korean War Veterans, said he'd taped the music from a set of old records a fellow veteran had lov- ingly saved.

Dick Barboza, of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3199 in Modesto, said he remembered the songs on the tape very well.

"We heard it so often, we thought it was our national anthem," Barboza said of one bouncy dance number.

Mike Glazzy, another Korean War veteran, said he could remember a disc jockey who'd played that song "all the time." Japanese stations were the only ones soldiers could pick up in Korea, he said.

Gary Hall, who served in Vietnam from 1967-68, stood with the black prisoner of war-missing in action flag.

"That POW flag stands for everyone who did not come home," said Hall. "The veterans who died, the MIAs and POWs gave all."

[deadhead]

Thanks for sharing this photo.

God Bless John A. Stone, F Company, 33rd Ohio Regiment

[LadyX]

You are a wonder, Sistah....no 'wonder' Mama loved you best..:((

(A loving LOL...:))

[WVNan]

Thank you Dansy. We went out this morning to put a flag on the grave and found that someone had already put one there. I think maybe the American Legion may do that for the military graves. John Stone was born in 1838. We can't find the date of his death. He is listed in the 1880 census. He enlisted in the Union Army 9/5/1861 and was given a medical discharge 10/15/1863. Reason given, Erysipelas (whatever that is). He and his wife Rbecca (Baldwin) Stone had 9 children. The last one was born in 1880 and her name was Lottie. She was my husband's grandmother on his father's side.

[LadyX]

For some reason, this gif I 'lifted' from TC would not post before!
Thanks for 'freeing' it, Dave..:))

[dansangel]

now a gigantic, unrecognizable area..:))

You've got *that* right. I often wonder how much nicer FL would be if about half the population decided to leave. ;-)

[dansangel]

You're quite welcome, ((((Nan)))))

I looked up Erysipelas on Google. It pulled up many hits, but This One on Erysipelas is a good place to start.

[WVNan]

How many times must I tell you, Mama did not love me best. She loved us equal. Now hesh up.

[WVNan]

Euwwwwwww! That sounds nasty. Sounds like he had a small wound that got infected.

[WVNan]

I love this graphic and it seems appropriate to the day and the subject.

<--Click this

[dansangel]

Yeah, it didn't sound good. Thank the good Lord for antibiotics!

[dansangel]

That's a beautiful graphic, Nan. Do you have a photo of your Civil War hero?

[WVNan]

No we don't. We have looked and looked, but we've never found one. I don't know if there are any military pictures of his regiment or not, and if so where they could be found. We didn't even know who he was until we moced to WV. Hubby didn't know anything about his family beyond his grandparents. When we moved here where his ancestors lived, we began to dig into the past and found a lot of his forebears. We found out somehow that he was buried in the cemetary in Gallipolis, Ohio, just across the river. We went over one day to look for his stone and when we got there the cemetary was HUGE. But not to be deterred, we started a systematic search. It didn't take us too long to find it. It was a gratifying moment. I sure would like to have a picture of him, but that family didn't keep too many records. There are still gaps in our search. They were simple rural people and just keeping body and soul together was hard enough.

[JulieRNR21]

Soldiers

In Arlington and Flanders Field,

They rest in row by row.

They fought and died for liberty

to preserve the peace we know.

They fought upon the beaches

of many foreign lands.

They fought for right and glory

for which our country stands.

They marched to war with courage.

They fought the battles thru.

They only thought of victory,

our peace they would renew.

On distant shores and jungle wars,

they would for peace persist.

They gave their lives for freedom,

no greater cause exist.



For honor, truth, and glory,

they fought and died together,

side by side in trenches deep.

They're remembered now and ever.

In Flanders Field and Arlington,

and in jungles and oceans deep,

our boys will rest forever.

We pray they rest in peace.


Jack E. Barnett (Author)

[dansangel]

Thank-you for bringing that sad and lovely poem here (((((Julie)))))). The magnitude of the fallen heroes lies in the visuals of those cemetaries. And, in the beauty of those written words.

[dansangel]

They were simple rural people and just keeping body and soul together was hard enough.

That is so true.

You might have some luck with some of the genealogy sites. .45MAN has used some of those sites to try to find relatives of his mother's. He hasn't had any luck, but one lady responded that she might be a distant cousin. His mother was from Lithuania and he never knew her, so he'd really like to find out more information.

[dansangel]

P.S. My daughter and son-in-law are now neighbors of yours. They moved to Fairfax, VA this past weekend. I miss them already, but it was a good move. Besides, we hope to be back in FL before too long, so we were bound to be separated one way or another.

Feelin' kinda blue. :-(

[JustAmy]

This picture is from last year at Fresno Memorial Gardens' Memorial Day Services. I could not make it this year; hopefully I will be able to make it to a small cemetery later this afternoon.

We will never forget!!!

[WVNan]

Oh Dansy, I know you must be missing them something awful. The empty nest never seems as empty when our kids are near-by. But far away is far away. God give you comfort and lots of e-mail. Fairfax is a goodly distance from where we are. We are on the western edge of WV. So, there is about two state's length between us and the D.C. area. It takes my brother-in-law 6 hours to drive over here from D.C. Funny, I used to have to go to D.C. back when I lived in Miami and my folks lived in Del. I flew.

[shaggy eel]

,,, thoughts are with you on Memorial Day.

Regards from Wellington, New Zealand.