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The Nugget Newspaper
Sisters, Oregon
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The contents of the on-line edition of The Nugget represent a selection among the stories that appear in the weekly print edition.

Memorial Day services honor fallen
By Jim Cornelius

Sisters area veterans, their families and local residents gathered in the peaceful environs of Camp Polk Cemetery on Monday, May 26, for the annual Memorial Day ceremonies conducted by a local veterans' group.

The services took on added significance with service men and women engaged in operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Keynote speaker Drew Holmes of Sisters saluted them and the local veterans he has come to know in recent years for "the wonderful and total commitment they have to this country."

Holmes, whose son is in the Air Force, noted that all the veterans he has met responded to a call for service.

"If they were asked to do it again, right now, each and every one of them would do it," Holmes said.

Intensive television coverage of the war in Iraq has allowed Americans to witness the service and sacrifice of American soldiers, Marines, airmen and sailors, Holmes noted.

He urged those present to send letters and notes to these servicemen to thank them.

"I think it's very important that we not let them think that we're not behind them also," he said.

Holmes said that soldiers who have died in conflicts and the local veterans who have passed on "are right here with us; they walk with us and they listen."

Holmes also took time to salute those who serve their country, though not in uniform. He recalled his father, who was a railroad engineer "forever" hauling munitions during World War II. His mother built airplanes.

"She built bombers," Holmes said. "My sweet little mother built bombers."

Holmes, who retired from the Union Pacific railroad in 1999, said he had not appreciated the service of civilians until recently.

"There are thousands and thousands of people in the United States that support our Armed Forces every day," he said.

Holmes' speech was followed by a drill performance by the award-winning Crook County Naval Junior ROTC. Veterans stood as each service hymn was played and the drill team marched and spun their rifles to a cadence.

At noon, the skies over Sisters were split by the roar of F-15-D jets as the Oregon Air National Guard 173rd Fighter Wing conducted a flyover.

The program was organized by VFW Post 8138 and American Legion Post 86.

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