Annual Memorial Day service encourages all to remember and live a life worthy of their sacrifice

The annual observance — Wisconsin’s longest running at 96 years — paid tribute to the thousands of local Veterans who made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of the nation.

The observance included moving performances from the Milwaukee American Legion Band and accompanying vocalist Danielle Sanchez, who treated attendees to a beautiful rendition of the national anthem and "God Bless America."

But the day’s focus was on remembrance as local officials and Veterans paid their respects to their brothers and sisters in arms who never came home from America’s wars. Local organizations placed wreaths in memoriam of all those who perished in service of the nation.

In a stirring tribute, Veterans from Wisconsin Vietnam Veterans, Chapter One, released a black balloon in remembrance of each of Wisconsin’s Vietnam War Veterans designated as prisoners of war or missing in action.

Retired Army Maj. Gen. Brian Winski, who retired in 2021 after 37 years of military service culminating with command of the famed 101st Airborne Division and now serves as president and CEO of the Milwaukee County War Memorial Center, delivered the morning’s keynote address.

“In every case, wherever freedom was threatened, gallant men and women stepped up and fought these wars, and that is one of the many things that makes America exceptional — the generations of patriots who epitomized honor and dedicated themselves to the defense of the United States,” Winski said. “And that’s why this day is so important to all of us: a well-deserved tribute to those brave Americans who made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of our great nation and ensured for us the freedoms that we enjoy every single day.”

Winski noted the more than 1.2 million Americans killed defending the nation since its founding 250 years ago, including more than 37,000 Wisconsinites, the noble legacy they left and the impact they had on the world.

“It is therefore fitting that we pause as a nation to recognize their service and sacrifice, for as we all know, a nation that forgets its defenders will itself soon be forgotten,” he said. “We best honor them by living lives they would be proud of. America must ensure that the freedoms that the fallen helped preserve and the nation they fought to defend is safe and secure for future generations of Americans.”

VA leaders pay tribute to nation’s fallen

This year’s theme, “Fulfilling Lincoln’s Promise,” underscored VA’s commitment to heed President Lincoln’s directive “to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan.” 

David Barnes, the assistant director of Wood National Cemetery, encouraged attendees to pay tribute to the Veterans whose headstones surrounded the ceremony.

“Before you leave today, I encourage you to pause at a headstone of any Veteran to reflect on what that hero has accomplished and what more they might have accomplished if given more time,” he said. “Moments like this help ensure that their legacies endure.”

Bruce Voigt, the director of the Milwaukee regional office of the Veterans Benefits Administration, reflected on 250 years of American history as well as the significance of Wood National Cemetery and the 155 years since it became the resting place for more than 40,000 Veterans from the Civil War to the present day.

“When I walk these grounds, I feel the weight of that unbroken line,” Voigt said. “Wisconsin’s sons and daughters who gave everything so the rest of us could stand here free.”

“Let us promise that their stories will not fade with time,” Voigt said. “Let us teach our children and grandchildren of those who lie here. Let us live lives worthy of their sacrifice — lives of service, of kindness, of gratitude and of fierce defense of the liberties they secured.”

James McLain, the executive director of the Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center, agreed, calling on all Americans to live in ways that honor the sacrifices borne by so many with not only words, but action, while recommitting ourselves to caring for all those who served and the loved ones who support them.

“May we leave this gathering today with renewed purpose to remember, to honor, to serve,” he said. “God bless you all, and thank you for remembering, and may we always be worthy of the heroes we remember today.”

Local officials reflect on Memorial Day

Local elected officials, including Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson, Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, Congressman Tom Tiffany and Congresswoman Gwen Moore, paid their respects to the nation’s fallen as well.

“Your resilience inspires us,” Crowley told Gold Star families in attendance. “The sacrifice of your loved ones will forever live within the hearts of this country.”

Crowley and others, including Johnson, noted the duty of everyday citizens to take the gift of freedom that the nation’s fallen provided to live lives of service to their neighbors and communities. 

In his remarks, Johnson said those who made the ultimate sacrifice live on in the democracy the nation’s citizens have a responsibility to uphold.

“So let us reflect on that responsibility,” Johnson said. “Because truly honoring the sacrifice of those who served means more than simple remembrance. It means action. It means striving every single day to build a nation that is worthy of their sacrifice. A nation rooted in justice, rooted in unity and opportunity for all.”

As Tiffany reflected on the rows of headstones surrounding the stage on a perfect spring day in Milwaukee, he closed by saying, “We don’t know them all, but we certainly owe them all.” 

Moore, who paused her remarks briefly as a flyover featuring vintage military aircraft paid tribute to those buried at Wood National Cemetery, observed the thousands of flags placed by volunteers at each Veteran’s headstone. She quoted a famed patriotic saying, “‘Our flag does not fly because of the wind that moves it, but it flies with the last breath of the soldiers who died protecting it,’ and I can’t think of a more poignant phrase than that for what this day means for all of us,” she said.

The ceremony closed with a 21-gun salute and the playing of taps by Bill Seaman of Taps for Veterans. The somber tones served as one final tribute before Vietnam Veterans raised the cemetery’s main flag to full staff.