MEMORIAL DAY SERVICE DRAWS CROWD AT PARK

An early morning thunderstorm forced cancellation of the Avenue of Flags display at Cape County Park Monday, but by mid-morning the rain had stopped and several hundred people were on hand for the annual Memorial Day observance of the Joint Veterans Council.

The 50-minute ceremony began with a half hour of patriotic music from the Cape Girardeau Municipal Band. That was followed by several songs from soloist Julia Cowsert, special remarks by Cape County Assistant Prosecutor Ian Sutherland, a 21-gun salute from the National Guard, and the playing of taps by Josh Lamar and Rob Giles.

Tom Giles, chairman of the Joint Veterans Council, reminded the crowd that Memorial Day was first observed in 1868 when two women placed flowers on the graves of Confederate and Union soldiers in Columbus, Miss.

Over the years, he said, more than one million lives have been lost defending the United States. Those figures included 6,000 who died in the Revolutionary War, 500,000 in the Civil War, 116,000 in World War I and 400,000 in World War II.

In his remarks, Sutherland chose to focus on one individual who died in battle. He pointed out that for most people, the more than one million who died is a number "that is essentially unreal to us ... we can't really perceive it."

So Sutherland talked about Pfc. Richard Wilson, who is the only Cape Girardeau native to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor. Wilson, who enlisted in the Army in the 187th Airborne as a paratrooper, was killed on Oct. 21, 1950 after intense fighting in Korea.

A plaque at the War Memorial in the county park, which served as the site of Monday's observance, honors Wilson.

Sutherland, himself a highly decorated Army veteran, enlisted in the Army in 1951 with the 82nd Airborne and served several tours of duty in Vietnam, where he was part of the special forces. He retired from service in 1979 with the rank of lieutenant colonel.

Sutherland described how Wilson, serving as a medic in Korea, repeatedly went to the battlefield to aid fallen soldiers. Two days after the battle ended, Wilson was found dead, slumped over the body of a soldier he had been helping.

At the time Wilson was found, "he was unarmed ... a medic. He gave his all for us. That's what it's really all about," said Sutherland.

He urged the crowd to remember Wilson as a way of remembering the sacrifice of the more than one million who have died defending the country.

"Take him into your heart and I think you will understand what this is all about," Sutherland said. "This (Memorial Day) is not all about statistics, it is a personal thing."