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Sisters veterans offer remembrance
By Jim Cornelius

Donna Lacroix lowers the flag to half mast in remembrance of fallen soldiers.

While visitors streamed through Sisters on their way home from vacation, as local folks enjoyed the final lazy day of their three-day weekend, the Sisters Veterans Group offered a stirring ceremony honoring the fallen American soldiers who made such freedom, peace and prosperity possible.

The annual Memorial Day ceremony, held at Camp Polk Cemetery on May 28, marked a time for veterans to remember their comrades and for the local community to honor their sacrifice.

"For war veterans like myself, sacrifice means nothing without remembrance," said keynote speaker Ronnie Frigulti. "That's what we're here for."

Frigulti was a Captain in the Marine Corps and served in the Vietnam War before going on to a career in the FBI.

Frigulti recounted some of his experiences in combat, including one hellish battle in 1969 in which Marines spent eight hours recovering their dead under enemy fire.

He acknowledged that it might seem almost bizarre to risk more lives to recover bodies.

"It's something you just have to do," he said. "You just can't leave your dead on the field after they've made that sacrifice."

Frigulti said he was stunned to recognize one of the bodies as a Marine lieutenant who had been his best man at his wedding at Quantico, Virginia, the year before.

The former captain noted that, under the stress of combat, men distance themselves from such blows with the numb and numbing mantra: "It don't mean nothin'."

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Of course, as the years wear on, Frigulti said, "it catches up with you," and veterans recognize how truly meaningful those deaths are.

"We returned and they did not," he said. "That thought is never far from our hearts and minds. Their duty, their honor, their courage -- while it makes us proud, it continues to haunt us."

And, Frigulti noted, it is important to remember the casualties of the peacetime service, sacrifice that is no less meaningful.

As the flags of the United States and of local veterans' organizations stirred gently in the breeze, Bill and Irene Peck laid wreaths naming war dead from the Sisters area.

Phil Chlopek made special note of the absence of Jess Edgington, one of the founding member of the local veterans group. Edgington has moved to a care facility in Redmond. Chlopek also noted the passing of Sisters veteran Dyle Smith.

Gene Harries played "Taps" to close the ceremony.

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The ceremony was presented by members of Sisters Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 8138 and American Legion Post 86.

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