Anne Michael presents her Memorial Day Address at Oak Hill Cemetery in Tama, Iowa, on Monday, May 30, 2016. News-Herald photos/John Speer

By Anne Michael

It is Memorial Day weekend 2016, and we are here for two tasks- to honor our veterans and to remember our veterans. First, we look at the task of honoring because our nation had an important lesson to learn here.

It would be reassuring to think we have always honored our vets as we did in WWII, for example. In World War 11, an entire country stood strong behind its military. They not only gave their sons and daughters to the war, but also they made other sacrifices. Necessities were rationed. Citizens had only so many coupons meaning they could only purchase a limited amount each month of things like sugar and gas. People didn’t complain – they were doing their part to support the troops. They grew victory gardens. They saved and contributed materials that could be recycled and used in the war effort. World War 11 was a war that our nation fought both here and abroad. And those in our military were honored – truly and deeply honored.

In stark contrast, we have experienced the Viet Nam War. The pictures of its battlefields still were of the wounded and the dead. The weapons were more advanced, but the battles had the same results. However., in the nation, there was another war. It was a country divided with anti-war protests. We saw draft cards burned. We saw the American flag burned. We saw a nation – not unified but divided.

And among the tragedies of the Viet Nam War was this – those who fought and sacrificed were NOT honored. When the Viet Nam vets came home, they did not come home being treated like heroes. Instead, some were shunned. Some were ridiculed. Some were spit upon.

IGHT- Veterans Todd Rank (left) and Dave Baier, commander of Enright-Schroeder Post 73 Tama American Legion salute while taps are played during Memorial Day services in Tama on Monday.

So here is a story – a story that illustrates an important lesson that this nation learned about honor – to hate the war, but to love the warrior.

To illustrate this lesson, I will use a particular group, a particular event, and a particular place.

The year was 1989 when a group of veterans from an organization called Rolling Thunder, most of whom were Viet Nam vets, organized a Memorial Day event called Run to the Wall, meaning the Viet Nam Memorial. On that weekend approximately 600 veterans from across the country mounted their motorcycles and headed for Washington DC. Their purpose was a simple one. They wanted to draw attention to those POW’s and MIA”s who were left behind and still unaccounted for. They did not want them forgotten. They wanted our government to find them and bring them home. This was to be a demonstration in the nation’s capital to remind our legislature and our nation that we should not and cannot forget those who did not come home.

So as they approached DC going through the Virginia Mountains, they came to a small town – Wyethville, Virginia. As they began their ride though the town, they thought they had made a real mistake. They felt that they must have interfered with the town’s celebration because the whole community – business people, citizens, and school children lined the streets – each waving an American flag. They thought they had obviously interrupted a parade – until – those people began to cheer. Then they realized that this – all of this – was for them – ALL of them. And among those – particularly those who were Viet Nam vets – there were tears. They were finally being honored. It seems the local radio station had been following the riders and announced their approach.

This incident resulted in a regular stop for many of the Memorial Day riders. Over many years, their last stop before DC was the small town of Wyethville, Virginia – the small town that gave them the homecoming they had never experienced. This incident, this town, and these people illustrate the lesson our nation finally learned. We might hate the war, but we must still love our warriors – ALL our warriors.

Tama American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars and Sons of the American Legion Firing Squad fires salute during Memorial Day Services on Monday, May 30, 2016, at Oak Hill Cemetery.

I should mention there is a difference in the ride as it is today compared to what it was in 1989. Instead of 600 motorcycles, there are now hundreds of thousands of motorcycles. And if you think you have heard some loud noise, sit in the Pentagon parking lot and listen to hundreds of thousands of Harleys fire up.

Now the second part of our Memorial Day task – remembrance. We are here to remember those veterans who are buried here and other veterans who are buried all across the nation and all across the world. We are here to pay respect to all our veterans who still live in this nation and all across the world.

We must also be here to remember those veterans who are still POW’s and MIA’S. From the Revolutionary War to today there are over 370,000 who were lsited as POW’s and over 42,000 MIA’S. Our government must continue the search. In most cases it will be only their remains that will be found. But they MUST be found and they MUST come home.

Rolling Thunder Chapter members from across this nation and from Iowa are in Washington DC on this weekend demonsting for that cause. These chapters meet, lobby, ride, and work to remind the nation NOT to leave any of our warriors behind. Every Rolling Thunder meeting begins with the Pledge of Allegiance, a moment of silence, and this sentence – “You are not forgotten.”

In closing this could well be the words of one of ours who has yet to be brought home.

LEFT- Brenda Youngbear, Tama American Legion Auxiliary President prepares to place a Memorial Day wreath on the Veterans Monument at Oak Hill Cemetery on Monday, May 30.

“When you go home, tell them of us and say for their tomorrow, we gave our today.”

We have learned to honor ALL our warriors. We must also remember All our warriors and bring them home.

Jeannene Rank prepares to lower an anchor of poppies into the Iowa River in remembrance of sailors lost at sea.