MANSFIELD — Brig. Gen. (retired) Christopher J. Dziubek said Monday seeing just one thing convinced him Richland County believes in honoring its military dead.
“Everything I need to know about this community, I saw at a glance,” he said during a Memorial Day observance at the Mansfield Cemetery.
“I saw that in front of your county courthouse, there is a Gold Star Family Memorial. It’s beautiful. And it’s so fitting to recognize on this day,” the retired general said during a ceremony that came after the annual parade.
Dziubek, a Toledo resident who retired in 2023 after 33 years of service from the U.S. Army, was the parade grand marshal and featured speaker during the event at the Veterans Honor Wall at the top of the Veterans Honor Grounds.
“I am so grateful to be here with you today to participate in your community’s commemoration of Memorial Day. I am especially gratified to see so many non-veterans,” he said.
(Photos and videos below are from the Memorial Day Parade in Mansfield, which stepped off on Reba Avenue and concluded in the Mansfield Cemetery at the Veterans Honor Grounds. The story continues after the photos and videos.)
Dziubek, whose multiple overseas deployments include Iraq, earned numerous military awards include the Defense Superior Service Medal, Bronze Star, Meritorious Service medal (seven awards), Army Commendation Medal (five awards), Army Achievement Medal (six awards), the Air Assault, Parachutist, and Army Aviator Badges, the German Armed Forces Proficiency Badge and both Canadian and Chilean Parachutist Wings.
He pointed out Memorial Day comes during what has become the traditional launch of summer, including the end of the school year.
“As we look to our left and our right, our fellow citizens have many distractions, that prevent so many more people being here today to remember the men and women of our country who for over 250 years have sacrificed their lives for the continuation of our form of government,” Dziubek said.
He encouraged everyone, even if they could not attend a Memorial Day observance, to pause “at home in a moment of quiet reflection.”
Dziubek said not all of the nation’s heroes volunteered.
“Many young men did not enter the service voluntarily. They were drafted. My great grandfathers were drafted into World War I.
“They were proud of their service after the fact, but having been given a choice, maybe they wouldn’t have volunteered. Regardless of how they entered the service, we owe them that moment of remembrance for those sacrifices they made on our behalf,” the retired general said.
“Thank you so very much for inviting me to participate in your celebration, your commemoration of this day. I am proud to be an Ohioan because of places like Richland County,” Dziubek said.
The ceremony at the cemetery also included a welcome from Bruce Phipps, commander of the Richland County Joint Veterans Council; the National Anthem sung by John Darby; patriotic musical selections by the Fun Center Chordsmen; a recitation of the poem, “In Flanders Field,” by Erica Fosco White, regent for the DAR Jared Mansfield Chapter; “Logan’s Orders” by Doug Theaker; a poetic tribute to veterans by Linda Close; a remembrance by Pastor Paul Lintern; a salute to the dead by the Richland County Joint Veterans Burial Squad; and invocation and benediction by Jim Berry, pastor of Berean Baptist Church.
(Below are photos and video from the Memorial Day observances on Monday at the Mansfield Cemetery.)
