Photo: World War II veterans in their Honor Flight yellow jackets stand together during the flyover from Holloman Air Force Base. From left are Cat Rede, Dan McBride, Bill Harrison and his wife, and Norman Hodges. (Many more photos will be posted to the Photo Essay page)
The annual Veterans Day ceremonies were held at Fort Bayard National Cemetery on Friday, 11/11/11, a date that occurs only once every century, and is the first time the year has coincided with the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, which marked the end of World War I in 1918.
On a somewhat gray day, a crowd attended the event, including four World War II veterans, Bill Harrison, Norman Hodges, Catarino Rede and Dan McBride, in their yellow Honor Flight jackets, commemorating their trips to the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C.
Jack Cunningham and Jim Dines provided pre-ceremony music on bagpipes.
Ray Davis of American Legion Post 18, which hosted the event, served as master of ceremonies.
The Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 358 Color Guard presented and retired the colors.
James Knight Jr. gave the invocation and the benediction.
Arlene Schadel led the singing of the national anthem.
A small table was set to remember those veterans who remain prisoners of war or missing in action. Gil Choquette, as part of the ceremony, added salt to a small plate and lit the candle to commemorate the POWs and MIAs. Davis said the post has the ceremony at the beginning of every formal meeting.
Commandant Robert Lopez of the Gaffney-Oglesby Detachment 1328 of the Marine Corps League introduced dignitaries in the audience.
Recognized at the event were American Gold Star mothers, Mary Cowan and Mrs. Grijalva.
At precisely 10:30 a.m. the only flyover for a Veterans Day event in New Mexico occurred, with two jets from Hollomon Air Force Base in Alamogordo.
In his introduction, Davis pointed out that the first American veterans were from the American Revolution. “The reason they won, and the reason we continue to win is because we don't fight for the king, we fight for freedom.”
Melanie Goodman of U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman's office read a letter from the senator. In the letter Bingaman pointed out that about 48,000 veterans will be returning from Iraq and Afghanistan and will need jobs.
Marco Grajeda of U.S. Sen. Tom Udall's office also read a letter. Udall's letter said, when he meets with veterans, it is a reminder of “what we owe them.” He also said he supports The U.S. Veterans Administration considering Fort Bayard as a place for veterans' treatment.
Jim Zawacki read a statement from Congressman Steve Pearce, who is a Vietnam veteran. “We celebrate liberty because our veterans go in harm's way. We must always remember their sacrifices for our freedom.”
Davis then recognized all the veterans attending, including those from World War II, the Vietnam veterans and their organization, the Marine Corps League, the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Disabled American Veterans.
Reggie Price, area veteran's service officer of the New Mexico Department of Veterans Services, reminded veterans that they are due two tax exemptions in New Mexico. He invited them to call him at his office number, 575-538-2377, to make sure they are receiving their exemptions.
He read Gov. Susana Martinez's proclamation for Veterans Day. It ended with her request: “I urge all New Mexicans to thank all of our veterans for their sacrifice and service to our country. I also ask that we pray for the safe return of our men and women currently serving abroad. I ask that we remember those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice… and to not forget those who remain missing in action and never rest until they come home.”
Dale Giese, retired Western New Mexico University history professor, founder of the Fort Bayard Historic Preservation Society and member of Operation Fort Bayard Task Force, was the featured speaker.
He is also a veteran, having served nine years in the Army Reserve and National Guard.
He said he attended college in Pennsylvania and lived in a dormitory that had once been a Civil War hospital. The college is near Shanksville, where Todd Beemer and his fellow patriots brought down United Flight 93, and likely prevented an attack on the White House or the Capitol in Washington, D.C., on September 11, 2001.
Giese once heard President Dwight D. Eisenhower explain to Gen. Bernard Montgomery the significance of Gettysburg.
Giese said Harry Gunderson, who is buried at Fort Bayard, was a good friend of his. Gunderson told Giese about going into Mexico on the hunt for Pancho Villa.
“He told me about the first November 11, when hostilities ceased at the end of World War I,” Giese said. “The Germany artillery and poison gas killed many, and the Germans continued to shoot until the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, Harry told me. He also said when the firing ceased, it was a deafening silence.”
Giese said during World War II, he was living in New Jersey, and said the war was off both coasts, with submarines a daily threat.
He said a lot of humor occurs during wartime.
He recounted what Nick Chintis, a World War II and Bataan Death March survivor, who was a Japanese prisoner of war, had told him.
“The guards taught the POWs how to goosestep, German-style,” Giese said Chintis told him. “They would find the humor in it and kick each other in the rear. Soon there was no more goosestepping. The POWs would catch mice, cut off their tails and draw a Hitler mustache on the mice rear ends.
“He was a B-77 gunner,” Giese said. “He also told me that one time he needed to relieve himself, so he did it out the window, and it hit the windshield of the plane behind.
“In the big picture, we defeated the Germans, the Italians, when we were treating the United States of Europe,” Giese said. “We had German and Italian POWs here at Fort Bayard.”
At the same time, Japan was forming the Greater East Asia Sphere.
“We came in with the Marshall Plan after the war was over and helped all the countries we had defeated,” Giese pointed out.
He spoke of several other operations that followed the war. Next came the Cold War, from the atomic bomb in 1945 through 1991, which included the building of the Berlin Wall until 1989, when it was brought down. He held up two rocks, one from White Sands, where the first atomic bomb was detonated underground, and another rock from the Berlin Wall. “They represent each end of the Cold War.”
The Cold War featured fear and witch hunts, of which the “Salt of the Earth” movie was a part. He said Rosaria Revueltas, who played Esperanza in the movie, was a Communist and was run back into Mexico. At the end of the movie, it never shows her face, but only a back.
The Korean and Vietnam wars were against Communism. “Today, Russia and China have softened their stand on communism, and capitalism is important to them.”
Giese has made eight trips to China and has talked to the guides personally, when they could not be overheard.
“Today is the Arab Spring,” Giese said. “Foreigners are far fonder of Americans than you may think.”
He knew Sergei Krushchev, the son of Nikita Krushchev and his wife Valentina. Sergei gave lectures, and in one said: “I was only going to stay in the U.S. one year, and I stayed seven (at that point).” He became a professor at the Naval War College in Rhode Island.
“He said it was the beginning of their new lives on July 12, 1999, when they became U.S. citizens,” Giese said Krushchev told him.
“With these stories, we should have greater expectations for a peaceful world,” Giese concluded.
“We live in the greatest country in the world, and it's because of veterans,” Davis ended the ceremony.
A bugler played “Taps.”
This year there were no flags on the graves nor lining the streets. The custodian, who has served the area for many years, was forced to resign, and oversight of the cemetery is done by someone coming from Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas.