Veterans' Day ceremony held at Fort Bayard National Cemetery 111117

Article by Mary Alice Murphy. Photos by Mary Alice Murphy and by ErnestO Stolpe, as marked

The annual Veterans' Day ceremony took place at 10 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 11, 2017 at the Fort Bayard National Cemetery, hosted by the Allingham-Golding American Legion Post 18. Commander Tom Raines served as master of ceremonies.

The Marine Corps League Detachment 1328 bugler Don Spann played the Call to Colors.

The Vietnam Veterans of American Chapter 358 presented the colors.

Lorraine Anglin sang the national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner."

Raines led the Pledge of Allegiance. Don Lurhsen, Post 18 chaplain, gave the invocation.

John Sterle showed each symbol on the P.O.W.-M.I.A. table as Bob Schloss explained the meaning behind the symbolism.

Jim Dines played Amazing Grace on the bagpipes, followed by the Hi Lo Silvers singing the Armed Forces medley and asking members of each group to stand when their hymn was sung.

Yesenia Luna, representing Sen. Tom Udall, read a letter from the senator.

Marine Corps League Gaffney-Oglesby Detachment 1328 Commandant Frank Donohue introduced Gold Star Mother, Mary Cowan, who was present. He also said another Gold Star Mother Kay Beeman was unable to attend, and "we lost our third Gold Star Mother Mary Lou Grijalva earlier this year."

Joseph Trujillo, program support assistant for Fort Bayard National Cemetery, gave a report on what the contractor has provided to the cemetery over the past several months. "The columbarium was completed two weeks ago. The new administration building at the front gate is open and will soon have a kiosk where people can look up the name of the veteran buried at Fort Bayard and print out a map showing the location of the gravesite. The contractor will demobilize for the winter soon and come back in the spring."

He said the Avenue of Flags on the main road in the cemetery will be ready for Memorial Day. The roads are planned to be paved in 2019. The landscaping has been put in around the pavilion.

The keynote speaker was Command Sgt. Patrick A. Tedford, USAF retired.

"I will talk about the ignorant and the stupid," Tedford said. "A lot of people don't understand the national anthem and its meaning."

He said people know only the first verse, so he read the three remaining verses, which put the first verse into context.

As for the ignorant and stupid, he said he asked people when the Declaration of Independence was signed, and most wrongly thought it was written in the 1800s or even 1900s.

Francis Scott Key, wrote the words of the national anthem in 1814, during the War of 1812, when he spotted an American flag still waving over Baltimore's Fort McHenry after a night of strong bombardment by the British.

Key was in Baltimore to negotiate for the release of Dr. William Beanes. Key boarded a British ship where he and a fellow lawyer secured the release of Beanes, but they were not allowed to go ashore until after the British attacked Baltimore. They watched the battle from an American sloop.

The first stanza asks if the listener can see the American flag. The second addresses the fact that the admiral of the British Navy, the largest in the world, predicted the battle would be over by morning. The British could not understand why the flag still flew. According to Tedford, it was because Americans held it up.
In stanza three, it mentions the hireling and slave, which referred to, according to one theory, mercenaries and slaves kidnapped by the British to fight on their side.

Tedford alleged the football players don't know what they are protesting, because he believes slaves were kidnapped by the British to fight on their side.

Stanza four refers to veterans.

The 1931 Act that adopted the Star-Spangled Banner as the national anthem did not include the lyrics about the hireling and slave, and indeed basically forgot the other three verses.

"The ignorant don't know any better; the stupid know better, but do it anyway,"
Tedford said.

"Our veterans throughout history are my heroes and always will be," Tedford said. "Forty years I've been in uniform. I retired in 2002 and I teach junior ROTC at the high school (in Alamogordo). I warn them to understand what freedoms cost. Over 4 ½ million survived World War II. Make sure you tell your story. I fought in war so the players can kneel. For me, I will stand and salute the flag, the veterans here, those at rest and anywhere I see them."

Anglin sang God Bless America, and Lurhsen gave the benediction. The colors were retired.