Rockingham honors veterans’ service, sacrifices

Wilber Turner stood and slowly turned to face the VFW Honor Guard waiting across the highway from Veterans Memorial Park in Wentworth on Sunday afternoon.

A veteran of two tours in Vietnam, Turner snapped to attention, saluted and waited for three volleys from the guard’s rifles that would precede the playing of taps.

As Sunday’s annual Rockingham County Memorial Day Service ended, Turner expressed gratitude for being able to return.

“I’ve looked forward to attending these services every year since my first one about eight years ago,” he said.

Turner missed last year’s Memorial Day service after getting a call to report immediately to a Veterans’ Hospital in Virginia for a liver transplant. Turner’s liver was failing due to exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam.

“My body rejected that first liver, and I went back for a second transplant in July,” he said. “I’m glad to be back for this year’s service, but I hope to be back in the Honor Guard for next Memorial Day.”

Eight years ago, a member of VFW Post 2574 in Eden invited Turner to attend a Memorial Day service. Accepting that invitation changed Turner’s future.

“I was so impressed and inspired by that service that I signed up to join the VFW that same day,” Turner said. “I even joined the Honor Guard to help honor the service of other veterans at funerals and events like this one today.”

Rockingham County Commissioner Harold Bass, a veteran of the Korean conflict, delivered Sunday’s opening remarks. Bass reminded those gathered for the service that the term Memorial Day dates back to the early 1880s, but did not come into common use until after World War II.

The Uniform Holiday Bill of 1968 placed Memorial Day on the calendar as one of the three-day holidays created on the national calendar.

“It’s often said that the ‘memorial’ in Memorial Day has been ignored by too many of us who are beneficiaries of those who have given the ultimate sacrifice,” Bass said. “Often, we do not observe the day as it should be — a day where we actively remember our ancestors, our family members, our loved ones, our neighbors and our friends who have given the ultimate sacrifice.”

Bass suggested the day should be observed by visiting cemeteries and placing flags on the graves of veterans, visiting memorials, flying the U.S. flag at half-staff until noon on Memorial Day, flying the POW/MIA flag, or by participating in a National Moment of Remembrance to think about the true meaning of the day.

Bass also recommended renewing a pledge to aid the widows, widowers and orphans of deceased veterans and assisting disabled veterans. He reminded those gathered Sunday of the benefits and services provided by the Veterans Service Office of Rockingham County.

Mickie Moore from Mayodan attended Sunday’s service, as she has for the last 12 years. A member of the Ladies Auxiliary of VFW Post 8297, Moore said she considers her service the least she could do to honor the men and women that gave so much for their country.

“I have five brothers that are veterans — one a Pearl Harbor survivor,” Moore said. “My husband was at Normandy.”

Sunday’s service centered on the reading of the names of 242 veterans who passed away since last Memorial Day by Sheriff Sam Page and Judge Ed Wilson.

The monuments arranged around Veterans Memorial Park bear the names of all the county’s deceased veterans. The top of each monument is inscribed with the words, “Those who served, Freedom is not free.”

Moore fully understood the impact of that inscription.

“We owe so much to these veterans and I don’t think we ever do enough to repay them for what they have given us,” she said.