Cairo Association of Teachers - Newsletter

CAT Tracks for May 28, 2006 SOME GAVE ALL

What Memorial Day weekend is all about, from the Paducah Sun...

Reenactors help to honor the dead of Mound City

By Matt Sanders

MOUND CITY, Ill. - Wearing a heavy wool uniform, Charles Althoff of Cairo easily broke a sweat under the brilliant May sunshine as he marched down the Mound City National Cemetery road lined with American flags flapping in the breeze.

Unlike most of those in attendance at the annual Memorial Day ceremony Saturday morning, Althoff is not a veteran. His dress blue uniform is the one he wears as a Civil War reenactor.

Saturday's remembrance was especially important for Althoff, even though he and Confederate reenactor Bobby Hall of Bertrand, Mo., have participated in the ceremony for the last 15 years. Althoff's father, the late Erwin E. Althoff, was a World War II veteran and was among roll call honorees read at the ceremony. The elder Althoff died 17 years ago, and flowers were placed in his memory.

"It's a point of honor that he was remembered, but also that all veterans buried here are remembered," Althoff said. "Even in past years, we've marked our calendars for this ceremony because it is a time for those who were not able to serve to honor those who did."

"Dad did not say much about the war, other than he was a German translator in the prisoner-of-war camps. It's fitting that so many people would take time out of their holiday weekend to do this, to honor our veterans."

Small American flags were aligned in front of each of the more than 8,100 gleaming white marble headstones that stood in sharp contrast to the 1012 acres of lush, but neatly manicured grass. Veterans of conflicts from the last 140 years are buried here: Civil War, Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War, Persian Gulf War and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

World War II veteran Ray D. Miller of nearby Mounds wore his Sunday best and his VFW cap to the ceremony to remember many lost comrades. Like so many of his generation, Miller did not want to wait until after high school graduation to join the Allies' cause. On his 17th birthday in 1944, Miller's Navy enlistment was rejected because he was one year short of not needing parental consent to join.

"Momma did not want me to go. She cried and cried over it, but one month later when we were sitting at the breakfast table, my dad said if 'the boy wants to serve his country then we should sign the papers,'" Miller said. "So she finally agreed to let me go."

Miller shipped out for the Pacific theater, first on a ship transporting heavy equipment for the Army and then on the troop carrier USS Rock Bridge. By the summer of 1945, Miller was stationed in Okinawa, where he was training for the planned Allied invasion of Japan that never took place after atomic bombs dropped on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki prompted the Japanese surrender.

"I've been a loyal citizen of this great country for 78 years," Miller said. "This ceremony allows us to honor the real heroes who made a sacrifice for this country."

The featured speaker, retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Wilma L. Vaught, also paid tribute to a group of sometimes overlooked veterans - the women. Vaught, a native of Scotland, is one of the most highly decorated military women in U.S. history, and was among 7,500 female veterans of the Vietnam War. She said the crowning achievement in her lengthy career was to spearhead the campaign that established the Women in Military Service for America Memorial at the main gateway to Arlington National Cemetery in 1997.

"The friendship. The values. Men and women coming together to keep America free. To those who serve, there is a difference, a bond," Vaught told the veterans. "You never quite forget all that happened to you in the service. And yes, it is a sense of pride, for both men and women."

"We also should honor those who remained at home; those who baked cookies, those who wrote letters. You added to our pride in serving our country."

Navy veteran John McCamish of Carterville helped end the ceremony with a bang, actually three loud bangs. Leading a group of friends called the Carterville 1st Artillery Hill Gang, McCamish fired three-ounce black powder blasts from his homemade replica Civil War cannon, placed in the middle of the cemetery just before taps was played.

While the cannon fire is usually reserved for after touchdowns at Carterville High School and an occasional Civil War reenactment weekend, McCamish always makes himself available for the Memorial Day ceremony. McCamish served from 1965-69, including one year in Vietnam. His great-great uncle, Thomas Gentry, a Civil War veteran, is buried in the cemetery.

"My time in the military was a proud time, even though it was a time of unrest," McCamish said. "I love doing this. It's an honor to be allowed to fire the salute on the hallowed ground."