Hundreds salute vets in Fredericktown

FREDERICKTOWN — Hundreds of people assembled for Fredericktown’s Memorial Day Observance; congregating on the square for the flag raising and wreath laying ceremonies, lining the parade route and gathering at Forrest Cemetery for the Memorial Day address and tribute to fallen soldiers.

Featured speaker Richard Brenneman is a U.S. Air Force veteran and former captain with the Knox County Sheriff’s Office. Reprising parts of a speech given at his Fredericktown High School graduation in 1971, Brenneman talked about God, country and apple pie because those are traditional attributes of the American way of life.

Apple pie, he said, symbolizes the bounty given to this country and safeguarded by those who died to protect the land.

God, he said, “has indeed blessed this country, this nation, this state, and yes, this community that we live in. ... Look around you. It’s all God’s handiwork. Isn’t it magnificent?”

“Country,” Brenneman continued. “What a wonderful country the United States of America is. ... We have more freedoms in this country than most countries in the world. And those freedoms have been protected for years.”

Brenneman honored those who have served to provide that protection.

“It’s the veteran, not the preacher, who has given us freedom of religion,” he said. “It is the veteran, not the campus organizer, who has given us freedom to assemble. It is the veteran, not the lawyer, who has given us the right to a fair trial. It is the veteran, not the politician, who has given us the right to vote. It is the veteran, not the reporter, who has given us freedom of the press. And it is the veteran, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech.

South Bloomfield honors more than vets

Dick Sears, left, presents Don Harris with a plaque in honor of nearly six decades as a member of the Bloomfield Cemetery Trustees. (Photo by Samantha Scoles)