Memorial Day Ceremony at Live Oak Park honors those who served and sacrificed for our nation
Memorial Day was observed by many across the country in various ways. But it’s hard to imagine a more poignant ceremony than the one held at Live Oak Park on Ashley River Road on Monday, May 28. The rain subsided long enough for the ceremony to take place, as many trudged through the soggy ground, past hundreds of graves adorned with American flags, many just inches above the standing water from the previous night’s deluge which still covered the ground and many of the grave markers.
“This is the one. This one is really special,” said West Ashley City Councilman Marvin Wagner, who was in attendance. He stood just steps from where his mother, father, and brother lay. American flags placed upon their graves. His father was a World War II Army veteran and his brother, a Vietnam-era veteran, served as a medic with the U.S. Army. Wagner, who himself was awarded the Meritorious Civilian Service Awards from the Navy and Air Force and retired as resource management flight chief at the Charleston Air Force Base, says his father-in-law is also buried at the West Ashley cemetery.
Volunteers placed approximately 500 flags on veterans graves the prior weekend at Live Oak Park. “Live Oak is a perpetual care cemetery and as such, is a record of yesterday and a place of quiet reflection and peace for today,” said John B. Johnston III, who has been the cemetery’s manager for the last three years and is a retired Navy Captain. “Lives are commemorated and deaths are recorded. Testimonies of devotion, pride, and remembrance are cast in bronze to pay tribute to their accomplishments in life, not death.” He says there are as many as 1,200-1,400 veterans buried on the grounds.
“We all served ‘under’ the flag while on active duty, reserve, retired, or disabled and for many of us, it is what covers our casket for military honors,” said Johnston. “Memorial Day honors the fallen, but we must remember that also covers the spouse, children, and pets left behind when deployed. We also must include the working animals of the military that seek out and protect the handlers and troops behind them.”
Commander John Coy of American Legion Post 179 here in West Ashley welcomed the crowd and led them in the Pledge of Allegiance as the Post’s Color Guard presented the colors. Coy then made not of the empty chair representing POW/MIA soldiers and asked for a moment of silence in their honor.
Yvonne LaMarca Schaffer then read the powerful poem “In Flanders Fields” by Canadian poet and World War I veteran John McRae as a tribute to veterans of all wars. Then Coy introduced the keynote speaker Congressional Metal of Honor recipient Major General James Everette Livingston, USMC (Ret.).
Livingston served as the Commanding Officer of the Marine detachment aboard the aircraft carrier USS Wasp, before joining the 3rd Marine Division in Vietnam in August 1967. On May 2, 1968, while serving as the Commanding Officer, Company E, 2d Battalion, 4th Marines, he distinguished himself above and beyond the call of duty in action against enemy forces and received the Congressional Medal of Honor.
As he stepped to the podium, with the Medal of Honor around his neck, a couple fellow Marines offered a “Oorah!” Livingston spoke about the solemn grounds the crowd was standing on but urged the crowd to not be solemn. “I would ask you not to mourn as we think about those who served. I ask you to praise them. Today is a day for praise not for mourning,” he said.
Livingston then lamented that millions of Americans today do not understand the true meaning of Memorial Day and noted that we as a nation have gotten away from our commitment to the armed services, noting only about one percent of our population today even serves in the military.
Following Livingston’s talk, wreathes were then placed on memorials for each of the five branches of the military — Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, and the Coast Guard, as well as wreathes placed as a tribute to all veterans from American Legion Post 179, SAL Squadron 179, Auxilary Unit 179, and the American Legion Riders.
The silence was broken as the Post 179 Honor Guard fired shots in salute to fallen veterans, followed by the American Legion bugler playing “Taps.”
