Maj. Gen. John A. Logan
Stephanie Farr - Sun-Gazette Staff
As raindrops dripped over the names of those Lycoming County citizens who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country, aging veterans in transparent ponchos and Young Marines in saturated uniforms paid tribute to those who lost their lives in service during a ceremony Saturday at Memorial Park.
Heavy rain kept some people away from the 13th annual Memorial Day service sponsored by the Lycoming County Veterans Council Inc., but many local officials, residents and veterans braved the weather to honor those who braved so much more.
Memorial Park is home to six monuments on which all 649 names of Lycoming County’s fallen servicemen and women are engraved. The site honors not only the lives lost in war, but also, those service people who have lost their lives since returning home, and those who are still alive today.
Guest speaker was Sam Aungst, a veteran of the Iraq war and a city firefighter who trained Iraqi firefighters during his service.
“’Always remember Dec. 7, 1941, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii,’” Aungst said. “Blurred and faded, tattoo green on a bulging biceps is the first time I remember seeing those words.”
The man with the tattoo was Aungst’s uncle, Johnny, who told him that he could never get rid of those words, for better or for worse, and that like a serviceman’s duty in war, whether you want to or not, you’ll always remember.
Aungst spoke of his own service in Iraq, saying that older Iraqis seemed to be more grateful than the younger ones. He speculated it was because the elders remember a time before Saddam Hussein when there was more freedom.
One day, while he was training his first class of Iraqis, Aungst said an elderly gentleman bent down on his knees, spoke some words in Arabic and began kissing his feet. An interpreter later told Aungst that the man was showing his appreciation for his service.
“How do you react to a 60-some-year-old man kissing your feet?” Aungst said.
Often, today’s young people get a bad rap in the media, when thousands of young kids who are doing much more good than evil are overlooked. In the same way, the media distorts reality in its coverage of the war in Iraq, Aungst said.
“We don’t receive prevailing good news of our youth, and Iraqi freedom is no different,” he said.
Aungst called for all of those in attendance to remember the real reason for Memorial Day, and to honor those who have lost their lives by flying flags at half staff until noon or by participating in a national moment of remembrance for one minute at 3 p.m. Monday.
“Forget not those rocks, those beacons of light that keep the home fire burning,” he said.
Jess P. Hackenburg II, chairman of the Veterans Memorial Park Commission and a U.S. Army Vietnam War veteran, introduced various veterans as they placed wreaths on each of the six monuments:
• The Williamsport Submarine Memorial was the first to be placed in the park, and it was the first to receive a wreath on Saturday. Three men from Lycoming County lost their lives in submarines during World War II, and this monument, which showcases a submarine torpedo, an anchor and a propeller, is in honor of those men, and all who served on Navy submarines.
• In World War I, Lycoming County lost 131 people, two of whom were women. Hackenburg said that disease was the main cause of death for those service people.
• During World War II, Hackenburg said the biggest cause of death for military personnel was training accidents. In that war, 415 Lycoming County citizens lost their lives, including two women, he said.
• In Korea, 60 men from Lycoming County died, some in combat, others from mistreatment as prisoners of war.
• The Vietnam War memorial at the park commemorates the 43 men from Lycoming who died in that war. Most of those were combat deaths, Hackenburg said.
• The tank memorial was the final one to receive a wreath on Saturday. The tank, which is an M-60 A5 1976 model, is in honor of those veterans who came back safely to the United States.