At Arkansas cemetery, salutes go out on fallen's day

Guns discharge, taps plays, words stress sacrifices made

Riley Miller sits Monday morning at the grave of her husband, Edward Miller Jr., during the Memorial Day program at the Arkansas State Veterans Cemetery in North Little Rock. Edward Miller was in the U.S. Air Force and served in Vietnam and the Persian Gulf.
Riley Miller sits Monday morning at the grave of her husband, Edward Miller Jr., during the Memorial Day program at the Arkansas State Veterans Cemetery in North Little Rock. Edward Miller was in the U.S. Air Force and served in Vietnam and the Persian Gulf.

Carlos Cervantes -- wearing a plaid jacket of red, white and blue and a maroon beret signifying the 173rd Airborne unit -- stood at attention in front of a memorial display of wreaths and saluted to honor the soldiers who died in service to their country.

He flinched each time a round was fired as the 106th Army Band played taps in the background.

Cervantes, 69, who did two Army Airborne tours during the Vietnam War, was among the multitude of veterans and their families paying tribute to fallen soldiers Monday at the Arkansas State Veterans Cemetery's annual Memorial Day remembrance event.

"We were just kids," he said. "I'm just ..."

He stopped in midsentence, pursed his lips. His eyes misty, he steeled his jaw. When he spoke again, his voice cracked.

"I'm just thinking of them, my band of brothers," he said.

The event drew hundreds of people to the 82-acre North Little Rock cemetery. The provided seating in the metal chairs quickly spilled over to the grass, where families sat with children in strollers or miniature folding chairs. Veterans in full military dress dotted the crowd. Arkansas National Guard soldiers bused people from the off-site parking lot at the University of Arkansas Pulaski Technical College's aeronautics facility.

Speaking at the service, Maj. Gen. William Wofford, former adjutant general of the Arkansas National Guard, said America has forgotten the solemnity of the national holiday.

"Smoke and barbecue grills obscure many Americans' view of what Memorial Day is all about," Wofford said.

He spoke of his relatives who fought in World War II and how "old" they seemed to him as a young boy listening to their stories. As he came of age himself, what hit him was how young the average soldier is upon answering the call to serve.

"They were boys," Wofford said. "The future of our country lies in the hands of the young Americans making these sacrifices."

Americans live in challenging times, he said.

"We live in a very dangerous world," Wofford said. "The question you have to ask yourself is 'Am I worth the sacrifice?'"

After the ceremony, the group dispersed into the cemetery grounds, visiting the tombstones of loved ones.

Lydia Williams, 29, reached down into the stroller in front of her to pat the head of her 2-year-old son Grant. Caine, 4, was bouncing down the sidewalk in front of her. The ceremony is a tradition for Williams and her father, Sid Skinner, 61.

"We talked about the American flag on the way here and what Memorial Day is about," Williams said. "It's important that [the children] know people died for our freedom and they continue to fight."

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Lori Jeffrey Boren visits the grave of her son Dustin Cole Jeffrey on Monday at the Arkansas State Veterans Cemetery in North Little Rock. Jeffrey served in the Army.

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Arkansas National Guard Command Sgt. Maj. Steven Veazey (left) and Chaplain Terry Williams of the Arkansas Veterans Coalition salute Monday during the playing of taps during the Memorial Day program at the Arkansas State Veterans Cemetery in North Little Rock.

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Lisa Nash (left) of Vilonia stands with her mother, Jean Hoyer of Conway, at the grave of Hoyer’s husband and Nash’s father, Donn Hoyer, on Monday at the Little Rock National Cemetery. Donn Hoyer served in the U.S. Navy during World War II and the Korean War.

Master Sgt. Michael Hollis, 35, of the Air Force 19th Logistics Readiness Squadron, said he and his fellow servicemen were at the event to pay honor to those who served and lost their lives. Hollis, who did three tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, knows firsthand how delicate life is during combat and the sacrifice required.

"I'll spend the rest of the day hanging out with friends and family talking about family members who served," Hollis said.

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The memories and stories are also what the day is about for some others, who did not attend the ceremony but spent the holiday cooking out or visiting with friends and family.

For Haven Hornibrook of Stuttgart, the day is painful. Her father, Michael Hornibrook, who served in the Navy in the Persian Gulf, died earlier this year.

"He talked about being in the service all of the time," she said, then laughed at the memory. "The stories, however, were never really appropriate. They were hilarious, but so awful!"

For Gov. Asa Hutchinson, Memorial Day brings memories of his uncle who served in the U.S. Army during WWI; his dad who served in the Navy during WWII; and all of his classmates who served during the Vietnam War.

"Of course, Memorial Day causes us to reflect on those who gave their life in service of the nation," Hutchinson said. "Arkansas has given much to protect freedom, and I am grateful to honor those who have given their all so that freedom will shine brightly for another generation."

Tonya Green, the manager at The Meat Shoppe in Gravel Ridge, woke up before dawn to prepare a home-cooked breakfast to serve for free to veterans and others who wished to donate to support the Arkansas State Veterans Beautification Foundation.

Green and the store's owner, Kent Berry, began the tradition last year as a way to end the regular service of breakfast for the restaurant.

"There was just no better way we could go out than to do something for those who served," Green said, adding that they hope to raise $10,000 for the cemetery.

Betty Fernau of Mayflower spends the day with family, grilling out and reflecting on the memories of those who served.

Her dad, Jesse Allen Tarvin, who passed away in 2008, was a Marine who served in the South Pacific and Central Pacific area from 1943 to 1945.

He participated in actions against the Japanese during World War II and was awarded a Good Conduct Medal, multiple Campaign Medals, three Bronze Stars and a Purple Heart for disabling head wounds that occurred on March 4, 1944, on the sands of Iwo Jima.

"I'm very proud of my dad's service. It made him who he was," Fernau said. "Due to his injuries, he was only able to serve three years before becoming 100 percent disabled. He taught me to respect and be proud of our country."

Todd Traub of Cabot -- who served as a sergeant in the Air Force from 1986 to 1990 as an electronics technician working on weather forecasting equipment in the United Kingdom -- said he tends to think of his maternal grandfather, Lorne Pickens, on Memorial Day.

Pickens was in the Navy at the end of World War II.

"I have in my possession a Japanese bayonet that he brought back and was given to me by my grandmother after his passing," Traub said. "There is a good chance I will take it down and look at it sometime during the weekend and recall the strongbox he used to get out at the urging of us grandkids. He had photos, a medal or two, a bullet.

"I have also have a valise he carried on ship. It's seen better days, but it has writing scrawled on it, including the title 'Machinist's mate,' so I guess that was his job on ship."

Bob Birdsong of Maumelle -- who served as a specialist in the Army from 1984 to 1989 -- said it bothers him when people use "Happy Memorial Day" as a greeting.

"I hate how it is used as an advertising tool. Lots of people die every year from all kinds of things, but this day is for remembering and revering those that gave their lives defending the Constitution," Birdsong said. "I will take my son up to Heber, and we will take flowers to my daddy's grave. He only served for two years in the naval reserve pre-Vietnam and never saw combat, but he is still my hero."

Last week, thinking of the coming holiday, Dustin Prince of Monticello tried on his uniform from his time in the mid-1990s as a specialist in the Army field artillery based in Bosnia.

"I can't breathe, but I'm pumped it still fits," he said.

Memorial Day, Prince said, should be a reminder to all Americans to honor the people who gave their lives to defend the one reason people come to America: freedom.

"We as a country aren't perfect and never will be," he said. "But we've been fortunate and successful for one reason and one reason only: the sacrifice of our soldiers."

State Desk on 05/30/2017

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