MANSFIELD — Harold Richard Gahm and Jack Cowell know from first-person experience the sacrifice that embodies the spirit of Memorial Day.
The duo, representing Mansfield’s World War II veterans, were honored during Monday’s parade and program that sprawled down Park Avenue West and spilled into the Gazebo on a sun-splashed morning.
“(Memorial Day) means everything to me,” Cowell said.
The 98-year-old was part of the “Island Hopping” campaign in the South Pacific in the early 1940s. He said his hearing was a casualty at Iwo Jima, and his combat experience revolved largely around protecting shipping lanes under the command of Admiral Chester Nimitz.
Gahm, 96, was told he wouldn’t have to serve after problems with his sight. Yet he insisted on “doing his bit” and wound up stationed in the warehouse district at Pearl Harbor.
The pair were introduced as part of Monday’s events that included numerous speeches, a 21-gun salute, a reading of the Gettysburg Address, and a musical component provided by the Fun Center Chordsman.
Grand Marshall Roger Friend, a 22-year veteran of the active and reserve Navy noted more than 1 million Americans have made the supreme sacrifice in the nation’s 247-year history, dating from the Revolutionary War through the recent withdrawal from Afghanistan. Friend read the names of the 13 Americans, including an Ohioan, who were killed in that most recent action, and outlined a brief biography of each.
“There is no greater loss than those felt by Gold Star families,” Friend said. “Their loss is felt forever.”
Vietnam veteran Dean Krance read Logan’s Orders, from May 30 1868, and Pastor Paul Lintern invited the audience to join him in a recitation of the Gettysburg Address.
It was a day for reflection and appreciation.
