Last week I created a fictional scenario of a young man killed in the Vietnam War, and of his mother learning of his death. You might consider this week’s column part two of last week’s.
God blessed me with the opportunity to attend Jamestown and Rocky Glen Cemetery’s Memorial Day services. I never leave a Memorial Day service feeling the same as I did when I arrived. They really pack an emotional punch.
Pennsylvania State Senator Michele Brooks gave the keynote address at Park Lawn Cemetery in Jamestown. She honored the memory of three brave local Vietnam War veterans who were killed in action. The details she shared about these men’s lives made the speech especially poignant.
The first was corporal Charles L. Reefer, United States Army, Pennsylvania Fifth, 198th Infantry. His loved ones called him Chuck. Chuck was the youngest of six children, and the smallest of the bunch. His cousins and brother fondly remember chasing him up a tree and cutting it down. (Good grief!)
Chuck’s mom died of cancer when he was young, so he moved in with his aunt and uncle. His older brother, Henry, who attended the ceremony, took care of him when he was little.
Chuck’s cousins, Jim and Birdy, remembered him coming to their house every weekend when he was a young man, looking for homemade cream puffs.
Chuck died on August 7, 1969, after stepping on a mine in Vietnam. Birdy remarked that she still can’t make cream puffs. It’s too hard on her.
The second servicemember Brooks recognized was Specialist 4 Stephen Bednar. He served in the United States Army, A Troop, Fourth Squadron, 12th Calvary Regiment, 101st Airborne Division.
He worked at Werner’s before enlisting, and sent money home to buy a Harley when he returned from war.
Bedner wrote a letter to his parents from a Vietnamese jungle in 1971. He’d been in the field for 20 days straight. He wrote it was “so hot” and longed for a shower, something he hadn’t had in a long time. He had to cut his letter short because his unit was moving out. Specialist 4 Stephen Bedner was killed in action in Vietnam on July 15, 1971.
The final man Brooks honored was Specialist 4 John H. Lopochonsky, Jr. He enlisted in the United States Army, A Troop, 7th Squadron, 1st Cavalry. He was a gunner on a helicopter and a graduate of Greenville High School.
My mom, Joyce Moore, graduated with him. She remembers John as a kind young man who always had a smile on his face. He ran track and played football. He especially loved track. She said, “He died as he lived: as a wonderful man.”
Lopochonsky wrote a letter to his parents on March 7, 1971. He said he heard his unit might be moving north, to an area around Saigon, but he wasn’t sure. He said he was fine, but said he really missed eating spaghetti, and asked his mom to send him some cookies.
In a post script he asked the family to take care, because knowing he had a family to come home to was all that was keeping him going.
Specialist 4 John Lopochonsky, Jr. died on July 17, 1971, in a helicopter crash after it took too many hits. He volunteered for reconnaissance during heavy fire and posthumously received the bronze star for distinguishing himself in battle. He was 21 years old.
Senator Brooks closed her speech by thanking the audience for remembering those who lost their lives in service to their country, and hoped it gave the surviving family members the smallest comfort to know they had honored their brave loved ones. She asked God to bless their families and grant them peace.
Afterward a chaplain prayed, quoting John 11:25-26, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die.” (NKJV) May I say once more how grateful I am to live in a community and in a nation where we are free to engage in public prayer?
I had enough time to eat lunch and practice “Taps” before heading out to Rocky Glen Cemetery’s service.
Arden McConnell opened the service with prayer. McConnell then shared a little history about Rocky Glen Cemetery’s Memorial Day services. In 1868 the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), determined that the 30th day of May, 1868, was to be set aside for the purpose of “strewing the choicest flowers of springtime” on the graves of men who died in the late rebellion (the Civil War). The GAR was the first national society to undertake decorating graves.
The GAR assigned posts to local communities. Adamsville’s post was McKee Post, named for Andrew McKee, a Civil War veteran from the community. The last member of McKee Post died in 1916.
McConnell invited audience members to share memories of veterans who died or did not return home. He shared the story of his great-grandfather, who served in the Civil War. Private First Class Cyrus S. Kelly enlisted August 25, 1861 and was discharged June 28, 1865. He served in the Pennsylvania 83rd Regiment. As a Civil War enthusiast, I sat straighter in my chair when I heard that.
The Pennsylvania 83rd was directly to the right of the 20th Maine regiment on Little Round Top in Gettysburg. The 20th Maine, and its commander, Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, executed a successful bayonet charge that swept the Confederates down the hill and saved the left flank of the Union Army. The 83rd Pennsylvania certainly played a role in the success of this charge, too. PFC Kelly, a man from our little community, was there, at Gettysburg, on Little Round Top.
Gerry Osborne asked us to remember Staff Sergeant Benjamin Hines, grandson of Reverend Russ Hines, a former pastor at Fallowfield, who died April 8, 2019, in Afghanistan.
My dad, Tom Moore, remembered Frank Winkle, late of Adamsville, who was killed in Korea. He remembered people talking about his “sacrifice,” a word Dad didn’t really understand as a boy, but now does.
He also mentioned Staff Sergeant Doug Mowris, who died in Afghanistan in 2004. Our family knew him, as Dad said, “As a fine man and a good boy. We miss him.”
A section of Route 18 is named in Mowris’ honor. It stretches from the Mercer-Crawford County line to Route 322 in Hartstown. Two signs have been erected in his honor.
Corporal Chuck Reefer. Specialist Stephen Bednar. Specialist John Lopochonsky, Jr. Private First Class Cyrus S. Kelly. Staff Sergeant Benjamin Hines. Staff Sergeant Doug Mowris.
To some these are just names. To those who loved them, the memories of cream puffs, Harleys, track meets, and Little Round Top still squeeze their hearts and fill them with pride and grief.
Of these six men, the only one I remember is Staff Sergeant Doug Mowris. When I think of Doug, I see water splashing five feet in the air after one of his epic cannonball jumps.
I’m proud that I knew Doug, as I’m sure all the families whose loved ones were honored this Memorial Day are. Their lives are testimonies to sacrifice and courage. I hope we will always cherish the memories of our brave servicemen and women who gave their lives to protect ours.
All God’s blessings to you this week.