It’s now our turn to stand guard over them

Jim Goldsworthy, Columnist

Yesterday (assuming everything went according to plan), it was my privilege to play a small part in what I considered a significant event.

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Good afternoon and welcome to the dedication of The Books of the Fallen. Thank you for joining us. I’m Jim Goldsworthy, and I will be your master of ceremonies.

It was my honor four and a half years ago to be a participant in the groundbreaking for this Gulf War Memorial, and I know that those who worked to make this day possible had set a goal many others thought could not be reached.

But I have come to know some of them and have seen their determination and devotion to this project. I also have seen the willingness with which so many from our community have come forward to help. That’s why I have never doubted that we would someday reconvene here for this purpose.

It has been said that we Americans are able to sleep safely in our beds at night because brave men and women stand awake, ready to deal with those who would do us harm.

Many of those who once watched our backs now sleep, so it falls to us to stand awake, ready to guard their memory and the legacy of freedom they have bought for us at the dearest of costs.

As of today, more than 5,000 American service men and women have died in the Persian Gulf, Iraq and Afghanistan wars. They, not the stones into which their names are carved, are the reason we are here today.

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Joe Elfritz retired as a staff sergeant from the United States Army in 2004 after serving for 24 years and nine months.

He was deployed with Special Operations Command Central in anti-terrorist operations, serving in Yemen and in other places where terrorists were building and operating training facilities. His job, as he described it to me, was “to find them and bring them in.”

While serving during Operation Iraqi Freedom, his unit was deployed to act in support of other units who were executing the capture of deposed dictator Saddam Hussein.

Ladies and gentlemen, Joe Elfritz.

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Chief Warrant Officer Two James Matthew Landis of the United States Army Aviation Branch served two tours in Iraq, the first during 2003 and 2004 in Balad, and later from November 2007 to January 2009, at Taji and Baghdad.

He joined the Army in January 1999 as a forward observer for the field artillery and was accepted to Warrant Officer Candidate School in 2002. He attended Sabalauski Air Assault School at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and was a distinguished honor graduate of rotary wing flight training as a pilot of the AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopter.

Ladies and gentlemen, James Landis.

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My friend Chip Sours and I met three years ago when Chapter 172 of the Vietnam Veterans of America sent a contingent to Arlington National Cemetery for the funeral and interment of Grady Cooke, an American airman who had been Missing in Action in Vietnam for more than 30 years.

After the service, we went to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial to find Cooke’s name on the Wall. Chip told us the names of 85 of his buddies were on the same panel as those of Cooke and his air crew.

Chip Sours served with the First Battalion, Fourth Marines, Third Marine Division as a rifleman and fire team leader during the Vietnam War. He participated in two special operations missions in Cambodia.

While continuing his career in the military, he was deployed to Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm with the 351st Ordnance Company of the United States Army, assigned to “Task Force Getz,” in Iraq and Kuwait.

He and his unit located and removed mines, booby traps, trip wires, weapons and ammunition that included chemical artillery rounds, and it demolished gun emplacements. Much of the ordnance it recovered was located inside sites where there were oil well fires.

During his more than 20 years in the military, he received numerous decorations, including the Meritorious Service Medal.

Ladies and gentlemen, Chip Sours.

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Pinned to the wall of my cubicle at the newspaper office is a handwritten note that came to me in the mail several years ago. It wasn’t signed, and there was no return address.

All it says is this: “A World War I epitaph: When you go home, tell them of us and say, for their tomorrow, we gave our today.”

The Gulf War Memorial was inspired by Jeff Davis’ desire to find a permanent way of honoring his son, United States Army Private First Class Brandon Davis, who was killed in action March 31, 2004, in Iraq.

Since July 4, 1776, America has had more than 85,000 tomorrows of freedom because of the todays that were given for us by Brandon Davis and more than 3 million other American service men and women who have died in the line of duty. The Books of the Fallen are America’s newest reminder that Freedom Is Never Free.

Jeff Davis will now place a memorial wreath at the plaque that commemorates his son.

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The American flag we raise today was flown over Saddam Hussein’s palace after American forces liberated Baghdad in 2003. It was given to the State of Maryland’s VFW Commander by a colonel who was grateful for the Welcome Home his troops received at Baltimore-Washington International Airport on their return to America. Thank you, past state VFW Commander Ray Shipley.

We also have a flag donated by Master Gunnery Sergeant Malvin Haubenstein of the United States Marine Corps. He flew it during Operation Iraqi Freedom in May 2008, and it will fly over this memorial in days to come. Thank you, Master Gunnery Sergeant Haubenstein.

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“Amazing Grace” holds a powerful significance for many who are here today, especially when it is performed on the bagpipes — as Bill Barnwell of Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 172 will do for us now.

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Thank you for being with us today. To those of you who are veterans, thank you for what you did. Thank you for our freedom. God bless you, and God bless America.

WELCOME HOME!

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Thanks also to Emily Schadt and Jessica Plummer, who sang our National Anthem and “God Bless America”;

Janet Ellsworth, president of VFW Post 1411 Ladies Auxiliary, and Mary Barnett, president of American Legion Auxiliary Unit 13, who led us in the Pledge of Allegiance;

Pete Elliott, chaplain of VFW Post 1411, who offered the invocation; Charlie Griffith, chaplain of American Legion Post 13, who pronounced the benediction; American Legion Post 13 Honor Guard, which executed the rifle volley and taps;

American Legion Post 13 Commander Jim King, Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 172 President Bob Cook and VFW Post 1411 Commander Jack Yarnall, who conducted the flag-raising; all of the veterans posts and anyone else who sent contingents, and all others who participated.