Several events mark Memorial Day weekend

Memorial Day weekend was packed with activities for people in the Cape Girardeau area. With yard sales, living histories and memorial services to attend residents and visitors have been busy the entire weekend.

The festivities began Thursday morning when the 16th annual 100-Mile Yard Sale took place along Highway 25 between Jackson and Kennett, Missouri. The shoulder of the highway was filled with cars as people walked from sale to sale. Its popularity has grown so much that the Missouri Department of Transportation provided extra safety measures to deal with the traffic.

MoDOT placed flashing message boards along the route reminding travelers to be aware of pedestrians and traffic. The signs read "caution yard sale next 100 miles."

Local Jackson homeowner Cindy Looman even warns neighbors whenever they move into the neighborhood about the huge event.

"My neighbor moved in three years ago, and I warned her, we said, 'OK, I'm just telling you, mark your calendar, because if you have anywhere to go it's going to take a lot longer to get somewhere,'" Looman said.

She thought this year's sale had been just as successful as previous years. Even though Friday was a slow day, by 2 p.m. Saturday she had sold 75 percent of her items.

The Turner Brigade set up camp Friday through Monday at Fort D in South Cape Girardeau for its living history of a soldier's garrison life during the Civil War in Cape Girardeau. The group began entertaining guests at 9 a.m. and remained in character until 4 p.m. every day, demonstrating different gun and cannon fires and just discussing the history of Cape Girardeau during wartime.

"Basically, it was just people came through and the soldiers with rifles, the engineers and a couple of our infantrymen described the manual of arms, how the rifles were loaded, the muskets were loaded at the time. They did a firing demonstration and those of us in the artillery and sometimes the engineers demonstrated how to load and fire civil war muzzle loading artillery," said Capt. Randy Baehr. "While we had the crew going through the drill on the guns, our first sergeant took over explaining the steps and why we did them."

Two cannons were on the hill beside Fort D; whenever enough people approached, the re-enactors would demonstrate how to load and fire the weapon. Baehr said they fired them at least eight times per day.

All the traditional garb, tents, furniture and weapons used by the re-enactors were individually owned, which they transported to each of their events.

Sheryl R. Smith, American Legion Department of Missouri 14th District commander, presents the keynote speech Monday at the Memorial Day service in Jackson. (Fred Lynch)

The sergeant of the camp, Scott House, said what he enjoys doing most is talking with the people who attend the living history.

"[I enjoy] keeping the history alive and just meeting with all the folks," House said. "That we can tell the story of the union men of this area basically. It's a great tradition. There's a lot of myths, so we do a lot of myth busting here.

"[People say] this fort was designed to fire on the river, so we have to bust that myth daily, it was not. Or the myth that Cape Girardeau was a southern town, and it was not. So just things like that that people don't really understand about Cape Girardeau's role in the Civil War."

Two memorials took place Monday: the VFW Memorial Day service at the Osage Centre in Cape Girardeau and the Jackson American Legion ceremony at the entrance of the Jackson City Cemetery.

In Jackson, the Jackson Municipal Band performed some patriotic music while American Legion Post 158 honored both living and deceased American veterans. The speaker was Sheryl Robertson Smith, the 14th District Commander for the American Legion Department of Missouri. Smith is also a retired member of the U.S. Navy and a retired educator.

At the Osage Centre, the Cape Girardeau Joint Veterans Council hosted speaker Larry H. Ferrell to speak at its ceremony. The Cape Girardeau Municipal Band played at the event, and Mark and Lana Cook sang the national anthem and performed the song "If You're Reading This" by Tim McGraw. There was a tribute to the fallen, the draping of the POW/MIA flag and a gun salute with taps.

Larry Ferrell, Assistant U.S. Attorney, presents the keynote speech at the Memorial Day service Monday, May 26, 2014 at the Osage Centre. (Fred Lynch)

Ferrell is assistant U.S. attorney and a former Cape Girardeau County prosecuting attorney who visited Iraq twice as a justice attache in Baghdad to assist prosecutors in preparing evidence for war crimes, including the trial of Saddam Hussein. He spent nine months in 2006 in Baghdad and 13 months from 2008 to 2009, reviewing hundreds of thousands of cases of war crimes committed under Hussein's reign.

During Ferrell's speech he stood proudly in front of his audience and spoke of the importance of military men and women and honored all that they did for their country. He spoke of the sadness he felt that children born today would probably never meet a World War II veteran and he suggested to everyone a few additions they could make to their celebration of Memorial Day next year.

He said to be proud of the American flag and fly it everyday, instead of just one day out of the year; visit veterans homes and thank them for their sacrifice; and, most importantly, pass down stories of World War II veterans, or any veteran, to the younger generation, ensuring the heroes of the past are never forgotten.

It was a touching ceremony for many in the audience. Sikeston, Missouri, resident Jackie Cowan is a regular to the memorial service.

"I always enjoy the band and I think the arms salute is very good," she said. "It's very nice for all the veterans, I think that's what today should be all about."

smaue@semissourian.com

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Pertinent addresses:

Highway 25 from Jackson to Kennett

920 Fort St., Cape Girardeau, Missouri

South High Street and West Madison Street, Jackson, Missouri

1625 N. Kingshighway St., Cape Girardeau, Missouri