Service Members Honor Fallen at Guam Memorial Day Ceremonies

By Jesse Leon Guerrero and Oyaol Ngirairikl, Joint Region Marianas Public Affairs

June 1, 2010 - PITI, Guam (NNS) -- Service members on Guam honored the men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice to the nation during Memorial Day weekend ceremonies on Guam May 29.

The Annual Memorial Day Tribute Service in Talofofo, Guam, paid tribute the village's six sons who died during combat. The theme for the tribute was "You will never be forgotten."

Guest speaker at the event Rear Adm. Paul Bushong, commander, Joint Region Marianas, said nearly every family on Guam has lost or knows a family which has lost a loved one in battle.

"It is our responsibility as husbands, wives, parents, children, friends, and neighbors to honor those who have served and continue to serve, but particularly to preserve the memory of those who have fallen," Bushong said. "They are American heroes and it is for us to ensure that they will always be remembered and that they did not die in vain."

More than a dozen personnel from Navy Munitions Command East Asia Division (NMC EAD) Unit Guam and 9th Operations Group Detachment 3, Global Hawk on Andersen Air Force Base, attended the event and sat alongside other veterans, family members and friends of the military. Members of Father Duenas Memorial School's Navy Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps provided color guard services.

Immediately following Bushong's speech, military members escorted island residents to lay wreaths and candles in front of the Talofofo Veterans Memorial Monument, erected in 1981 to recognize the fallen of the U.S. Armed Forces.

Mineman Seaman Apprentice Joshua Koellner, of NMC EAD Unit Guam, said it was an honor for him to participate as an escort. Guam is Koellner's first duty station since enlisting a year ago.

"It's paying tribute to fallen Soldiers who fought for our country and our freedom," Koellner said. "This means a lot."

Lt. Col. Brandon Baker, commanding officer of 9th Operations Group Detachment 3, Global Hawk, said it was an honor for his Air Force team to participate in the tribute.

"To be with family members of those that gave all, who gave everything for our nation, there's no higher respect that we can give them than to show up and support them," Baker said.

Hundreds of service members and island residents attended the Memorial Day ceremony at Veterans Cemetery in Piti, Guam, May 31. The event was hosted by the Office of the Governor and the Guam Veterans Affairs Office.

The ceremony started with a flyover by a 393rd Expeditionary Bomb Squadron B-2 Spirit. The squadron operates out of Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri and is currently deployed to Andersen Air Force Base.

Bushong served as guest speaker at this event as well, saying Memorial Day is to honor the nation's war dead and the ideals for which they gave their lives.

"Those same ideals that were defended at Gettysburg, ideals that have come to define our nation, the protection of liberty and freedom and the commitment to fight injustice," he said. "Memorial Day is dedicated to remembering the more than one million Americans who died defending these ideals while serving this nation in the military."

He noted how Guam's sons and daughters have answered the call to serve over the decades.

"They have aided America when our country called. I am awed and humbled by their unwavering display of patriotism and bravery," Bushong said.

"Our island and our people know firsthand the price of freedom," said Lt. Gov. of Guam Mike Cruz. "It is paid in blood, bought with unending vigilance, and earned by fathers, mothers, sons and daughters. They come from every walk of life, from every rung of the economic ladder, from every state and territory in this nation."

Honoring those men and women who sacrificed all, Airmen, Coast Guardsmen, Sailors, Marines and Soldiers placed wreaths on grave markers symbolizing the men and women who died fighting in various wars, including both World Wars; the Korean, Vietnam, and Persian Gulf Wars; and Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom.

Chief Master Sgt. Allen Mullinex, 36th Wing command chief master sergeant, spoke of the pride he felt in standing beside fellow brothers- and sisters-at-arms in honoring the fallen.

"This is a humbling event for me," he said. "It honors those that went before us to protect our freedom of the United States and all our territories and actually other countries we've helped in the fight for their freedom."

Mullinex said the support from the community shown at that event and others throughout the year is something he appreciates. Youth from the Boy Scouts of America and various local schools' Junior Reserve Officers Training Corps assisted throughout the ceremony.

Mullinex said that involving these future leaders was a great way to ensure the freedoms service members of the past and present work so hard to secure are not taken for granted or forgotten.

"It gives all of us pride to know our country is behind us," he said.

Chief Boatswain's Mate (SW/AW) Leslie Bates, of Maritime Expeditionary Security Squadron 7, Division 71, Detachment Echo, placed wreaths on the grave marker for service members whose lives were lost in Operation Iraqi Freedom. This was the first Memorial Day ceremony to have such a marker.

Formerly known as Decoration Day, Memorial Day commemorates U.S. men and women who died while during military service. Toward the end of the Civil War, groups of people honored the war dead by leaving flowers on their graves. In 1971, Memorial Day was declared a national holiday by an act of Congress, and is celebrated on the last Monday in May.