Winchester honors fallen heroes at moving Memorial Day ceremony

By John Chaney | The Winchester Sun

WINCHESTER — Clark County paused Monday morn­ing to remem­ber its fall­en heroes at the Clark County Veterans Memorial, where dozens of vet­er­ans, fam­i­lies and com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers gath­ered for a heart­felt Memorial Day Remembrance Service.

The annu­al event, host­ed by the Clark County Veterans Council, at the East Broadway site, blend­ed solemn reflec­tion, patri­ot­ic music and stir­ring trib­utes to those who gave their lives in defense of the nation.

Dee Burkes, vice pres­i­dent of the Clark County Veterans Council, opened the pro­gram by reflect­ing on the heavy price of mil­i­tary ser­vice. “Those of us that’s been in the mil­i­tary can under­stand that the pos­si­ble sac­ri­fices when you sign on that dot­ted line… you’re will­ing to put your life on the line for your coun­try,” Burkes said. He spoke of the “blood, sweat, and tears” poured into build­ing the memo­r­i­al and the ongo­ing com­mit­ment required to main­tain it as sacred ground.

Mayor JoEllen Reed wel­comed the crowd and offered the open­ing prayer. “We come to hon­or the brave and inspire the liv­ing,” she said. Reed thanked City Manager Dianna Layne for her tire­less work orga­niz­ing the event each year and praised Tommy Thompson, own­er of Thompson Catering & Special Events, for his stead­fast com­mu­ni­ty service.

Kentucky Senator Greg Elkins told the audi­ence that Memorial Day stands apart from Veterans Day. “It’s a time to remem­ber those that gave up their lives,” he said. He encour­aged fam­i­lies to teach their chil­dren and grand­chil­dren the true mean­ing of the day before lead­ing the crowd in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Local singer Perri Wilson deliv­ered stir­ring ren­di­tions of the National Anthem and “America the Beautiful” that res­onat­ed with those in atten­dance. Reverend Jerry Johns of First Christian Church then shared a read­ing from the prophet Micah and offered a prayer for peace and justice.

A par­tic­u­lar­ly mov­ing part of the ser­vice came when mem­bers of the Clark County Veterans Council read the names of local ser­vice mem­bers who made the ulti­mate sac­ri­fice. Chuck Witt, Dee Birkes, David Ward, Roy Hudson read dozens of names span­ning World War I through Vietnam. Clark County alone lost approx­i­mate­ly 94 res­i­dents dur­ing World War II.

Former Winchester Mayor Ed Burtner deliv­ered one of the most pow­er­ful address­es of the morn­ing. Citing nation­al sta­tis­tics, Burtner not­ed that 1.3 mil­lion Americans have died in com­bat through­out the country’s his­to­ry. He brought the impact home for the local audi­ence, point­ing out that dur­ing World War II, “this com­mu­ni­ty was bury­ing a World War II sol­dier two times a month.”

The ser­vice con­clud­ed with the play­ing of “Taps”, fol­lowed by a clos­ing prayer from Mike Flynn, who expressed deep grat­i­tude for the free­doms pur­chased by the sac­ri­fices of so many.