VETERANS DAY EVENTS HELD HERE

REMEMBERING THOSE WHO SERVED: Participants in Sunday's Veteran's Day parade advance westward on Broadway. The parade was part of Cape Girardeau's early observance of the holiday, which officially is Wednesday. Following the parade, a ceremony was held at Freedom Corner in Capaha Park.

Retired Lt. Col. Jack P. Grisham of Cape Girardeau told a group of about 150 people at a Veterans Day observance here Sunday that they should do more than simply honor veterans on the holiday.

Grisham said Veterans Day should prompt Americans to examine themselves and judge whether they are true patriots who love, defend and support their country.

The retired lieutenant colonel was the featured speaker at the Veterans Day ceremony, held Sunday at Freedom Corner in Capaha Park. The ceremony followed a parade on Broadway.

Grisham retired from the Army in 1972 after a 28-year career in Army Airborne and Special Services. He was awarded the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star with oak leaf cluster, the Meritorious Service Medal and fire air medals. His other awards include two combat infantry badges and a senior parachute badge.

He said Sunday that Veterans Day is a tribute to veterans, both living and those who were killed in service, and to their friends and family. But he said it's also a chance for all Americans to evaluate whether the nation today is worthy of such sacrifice.

Grisham said a person doesn't have to be a veteran to be a patriot, which he defined as "one who loves, supports and defends his country.

"Most of us find it easy to love our country," he said. "That doesn't mean we always approve of everything in it. It's like a friend with faults; we tend to tolerate and overlook the faults because we love that person.

"In the same way, we can see our country's faults and mistakes and offer constructive criticisms, but as a patriot, you must never stop loving our country."

Grisham said Americans also should defend the nation against those who criticize our government, society and values. He said he's "disgusted" that we're so "bombarded with negative things about our country."

"It not only turns my stomach but it breaks my heart," he said. "Those people aren't defending our country, they're attacking it."

Grisham said there are ways other than through taxes to support the country. He encouraged citizens to work to protect the environment, build a more safe and pleasant community and become involved with local education and training of youth.

He encouraged adults to strive to be good role models for young people, who, he said, don't respond well to "preaching and lectures. They respond to a positive example." Grisham said young people can "be patriots" and support their country through diligence in their studies and by encouraging their classmates.

Parents with very young children have the best opportunity to mold patriots through example and instruction, Grisham said.

"When you read to your child, distinguish between right and wrong, and instill in them those values that were instilled in you. You create a strong adult," he added.

Grisham said that without a commitment to patriotism, the deaths of more than one million veterans is meaningless.

"If any one of these could stand here today I think they would say, `If you don't love, defend and support your country today, then I would have died in vain,'" he said. "They fought and died to keep our flag flying over a strong and free nation.

"They died to maintain our freedom, which has allowed each of us to say, `Thank God I'm an American.'"

Sunday's ceremony followed a parade through downtown Cape Girardeau along Broadway. The color guard from Cape Girardeau's 135th Engineer Group of the Missouri Army National Guard led the parade. The parade marshal was retired Brig. Gen. Narvol A. Randol Sr. of Cape Girardeau.

The 135th Missouri Army National Guard Band from Springfield played march music for the military units in the parade, which included the Air Force and Army Reserve Officer Training Corps detachments at Southeast Missouri State University, and the Cape Girardeau Civil Air Patrol.

Members of local veterans organizations marched and rode in the parade, and members of the 135th Engineer Group manned a gun salute at the closing ceremony.