Three earsplitting volleys of rifle fire shattered pure silence.
The crack of gunshots during the stoic remembrance for those who served is familiar to any veteran.
“The fact that we can have this ceremony here today is a credit to our military,” said Robert “Joe” Mulligan, the master of ceremonies for this year’s Athens County Veterans Day ceremonies.
Mulligan, a Lee Township resident, is a retired Army colonel and Gulf War veteran, in addition to being an Ohio University alumnus and lifetime Athens County resident.
“I tell a lot of folks, I’ve been places and seen things I never want to see, but I’m glad I could come back here and live here,” he said.
OU’s Air Force ROTC cadets set up a makeshift memorial outside Baker University Center Monday with candles, roses and a hat that represents each military branch.
“Twenty-one steps we take represent the 21-gun salute, which remembers someone from the military who died,” said Matt Sacksteder, a sophomore studying mechanical engineering and organizer of the memorial. “It’s out of respect.”
Air Force cadets walked in silence beginning midnight Sunday, switching shifts every 15 minutes. A rose was laid on the table every hour until midnight Monday.
The Color Guard assumes the responsibility for many military rituals, including playing “Taps” and laying American Flags at military funerals.
“Color Guard shows up at a funeral for every veteran who passes, “said John Rogaski, commander of Athens VFW Post 3477 and a Vietnam War veteran. “(It is a) final way to honor a fallen comrade.”
Though the military has its ways of honoring its own, civilians — such as marching bands from Alexander High School, Federal Hocking High School and Athens High School — are not exempt from contributing to the rituals veterans hold sacred.
Throughout the ceremony Monday, these bands played patriotic songs.
“Music is part of it. … A lot of times that will just bring back memories to a vet,” Mulligan said.
Asked what many of these symbols and rituals mean to veterans, Tom Smith, a local official with American Veterans — more commonly known as AMVETS — who served in the Vietnam War in part of his 32-year military career, had just one word: “Freedom.”
When asked the same question, retired Air Force Veteran Chris McCauley cited an old military saying: “A veteran salutes the flag, serves under the flag, lives under the flag and dies under the flag under a flag-draped coffin.”
Even the date chosen for Veterans Day itself is symbolic, Mulligan said, adding that Veterans Day is celebrated in commemoration for the treaty that ended World War I, which was signed Nov. 11 at 11 a.m.
Accordingly, Athens’ Veterans Day ceremonies started promptly at 11 a.m.
“We can never fully repay them, but we can honor them for their service,” Athens Mayor Paul Wiehl said during a speech after the parade.
Long before his service years, Mulligan remembers how the rituals of Veterans Day affected him.
“I can remember back in the early ’50s as a young guy… coming to the Veterans Day parades here in Athens,” Mulligan said. “Part of the parade was the Gold Star Mothers, mothers who had lost at that time sons or daughters in WWII or Korea. I can remember one or two double gold star mothers, who had lost two children, and that was significant. … Even as a little guy I could remember that.”
ld311710@ohiou.edu
@LucasDaprile
— Hannah Yang contributed to this report.
