Our Memorial Day edition has always given me a chance to take a bit of a sidestep from my normal column and remember back to Memorial Day in Maddock, North Dakota.

I’m not really sure how old I was when my Dad, a World War II Navy Vet, took me to the park in the center of town. I do remember jumping out of the truck and walking with my Dad across the street to what seemed like endless rows of crosses. There were names on each cross but I wasn’t able to read them.

I can remember sitting on the steps of the fire hall that was near the crosses and watching my Dad straighten each and every cross, although it didn’t seem that many of them needed straightening. Soon Dad was joined by several other men and they talked about the Memorial Day service which would take place soon, I surmised, because people from town would start to arrive and walk through the display of crosses. A few stopped and attached flowers and other patriotic looking decorations to a cross. There were even a few that looked like they were crying a bit when they stopped at a cross.

Across the park near the building that I knew as the “Old Bandstand”, an older gentlemen opened a case and pulled out a brass colored horn. After a few words with a gentleman who looked like maybe he was the organizer of the event, he stepped behind the Old Bandstand and blew a few long musical notes.

Dad had disappeared for a while, heck, this is Maddock so no need to worry about where he went, I was just fine. And then he and a group of men appeared once again in, in uniforms? I watched as they practiced marching to a spot and stopping, near the crosses. I wasn’t sure what it was they were doing, later I would find out that each of them would soon carry a rifle and wear a white helmet.

I watched them practice, and when it seemed they had their routine down they stopped and the horn player did TAPS. Yes, I had heard TAPS before, on TV of course. But never live, with the notes ringing through the park, it was pretty surreal. All of the men in uniform had raised their hand to their helmets in a salute during TAPS. For a young kid like me it was certainly an impressive site, especially my Dad who I had never seen in a uniform, well actually I had never seen any of these men in a uniform before. The next 30-45 minutes seemed almost like a blur. There was more practice by the guys wearing the uniforms but now they had flags, included the American flag, and rifles. One of the flags they carried said Theodore A. Togstad American Legions Post 23.

I wasn’t sure they were real rifles. They certainly looked real to me. Later or course, this group of men would confirm that the rifles were indeed real during the 21 gun salute.

Soon a group of ladies showed up in different uniforms and they had flags. What was once a street, soon became filled with people who also took interest in what the men in uniform were doing.

As I looked out over the crosses I saw our local Boy Scout leader, Irving, instructing a group of his Scouts on how to place small American flags on each and every cross. There was a hole on top of each cross and the wood sticks attached to the flags fit in the holes perfectly.

All of this activity, all of these people, all of this practice was leading up to the annual Memorial Day ceremony in Maddock. The ceremony was something I would witness several times over the years. And they would actually fire those guns over top of those crosses. TAPS would sound and each and every cross would once again receive one of those small American flags.

And the names on those crosses? They weren’t just names, but the names of Maddock servicemen who served their country and some even lost their lives protecting our freedom. Later as veterans would pass away, a cross would be added with their name on it.

The Statler Brothers did a song about the Vietnam Wall in Washington, D.C.. The title? They’re More Than A Name on a Wall. Years later as hear that song I reflect back to Maddock and I know now how special each and every cross, and each and every name on those crosses was.

Hit The Trails!
On the Minot Park District website is a list of trails that Minot Parks maintains. Now that the weather has turned nice, it’s time to hit the trails for a little walking, jogging, biking…whatever. A lot of fun right in your back yard.

Today’s Chuckle
They say there’s no rest for the wicked, but it’s not exactly leisure world for the rest of us either.