Dateline: November 13, 2003
Rowe ceremony honors sacrifices of veterans
By Roger Estlack, Clarendon Enterprise
More
than 50 people braved a chilly wind and cloudy skies at Rowe Cemetery near
Hedley Monday morning as a native son of Donley County returned to honor
the sacrifices of America’s fighting men and women.
Randall
County Judge Ernie Houdashell delivered the keynote address for the
morning.
“This
cemetery is full of veterans and friends who served in World War I, World
War II, Korea, and Vietnam,” said Houdashell, who is a native of Hedley.
The
judge recognized Hedley’s Johnny Hoggatt, who has served in the War on
Terror, and said that the fight for freedom will always continue.
“We’re
engaged in a different type of war today,” Houdashell said. “It was
something that most of us couldn’t understand would happen here until
9-11.”
He
spoke of freedom being worth fighting for and recalled his own service to
America.
“In
1966, I took with me the clothes on my back and a Bible when I joined the
Army,” he said. “I also took a value system with me from Hedley, and
it has stayed with me.”
Houdashell
closed by reciting a narrative he wrote in 1991 entitled “Don’t Weep
For Me,” which discusses the sacrifices of the American soldier over the
centuries.
“Being
a true American means believing in freedom at all costs and accepting the
fact that freedom is never free,” he read. “A true American will never
believe that freedom can never be taken away. A true American is a person
that will preserve freedom at all costs, anywhere, anytime.”
Monday’s
ceremony was hosted by the Adamson-Lane Post 287 of the American Legion.
Post Commander Jack Moreman welcomed those in attendance and said that
approximately 200 flags had been placed on the graves of veterans this
year.
Connie
DeBord gave the invocation, and J.D. Skaggs and Doyle Messer posted the
colors. Tommie Saye led the Pledge of Allegiance.
The
Hedley School Choir sang the National Anthem as well as two patriotic
melodies. The service was closed with the playing of “Taps.”