By Joel Langton
The 830 Times
For many years, I had the honor and privilege of helping coordinate our local Memorial Day and Veterans’ Day ceremonies.
Either day, our community leaders were always willing to step up and do whatever was asked as they supported our strong veteran community here.
I received a call one Sunday night where a local elected leader wanted to bounce something off of me.
“I want to use my speech to talk about my grandfather,” the caller told me.
“Did we lose him when he was serving in the military?” I asked.
“No, he’s still with us. We just celebrated his 90th birthday,” he said.
“Oh no, maybe we should just focus on those that were lost wearing the uniform, Memorial Day really isn’t a day to honor our veterans but to remember the fallen,” I said.
I was honored when our local leader “stuck to the script” and remembered the fallen.
John Sontag, a veteran from the Vietnam era and I were talking about the confusion around Memorial Day. I asked him whom he thought of on Memorial Day.
He rattled off seven names quicker than a good Baptist can tell you about the four gospels.
Captain Marvin Cook Jr., 2nd Lt. Russell Equi, Staff Sgt. Robert Johnson, Cpl. Charles Brezinski, Lance Cpl. Martin Gimbert, Lance Cpl Bradley Suchka and Lance Cpl Stanley Newman, he said.
Then, he shared the story. “I was supposed to be on the amtrac with them,” he told me in the lobby of Southwest Abstract where he’s worked for decades.
“Lieutenant Kwai came and told me I wasn’t going with the team that day. I was the platoon sergeant of the E-1 Platoon near Danang at Marble Mountain. I remember the L-T telling me I’d done too much lately and I needed to go to the back of the convoy. He wanted me to rest but I wanted to be with my guys,” Sontag said.
Sontag said he walked about 100 yards back and watched “his guys” pull out. “We were going to go out and take a lot of C-4 out to this field we knew had a bunch of ‘Bouncing Betties’ (A ‘Bouncing Betty’ is a type of landmine) in it and we were going to use the C-4 to detonate the mines.” They had 3,500 pounds of C-4 on board the amtrac.
These were seven people that Sontag spent every day with, working to keep each other alive. They had barely gotten out of the encampment when their amtrac was turned into a fireball. All seven of his guys now share a grave at Arlington Cemetery.
“Those are the seven guys I think about every Memorial Day,” Sontag said. “I think about them every day.”
However, for much of America it’s a holiday that always falls on Mondays, so, to many, that means a three-day weekend!
You will see veterans are being offered discounts at restaurants; businesses are offering discounts to “Celebrate Memorial Day” and many other offers. These are gracious and I salute people for trying to support the military.
However, If we stop to think for 10 seconds, we understand you can’t really celebrate a day designed to honor the dead. Memorial Day is one of those days we stop and remember, not celebrate.
While those who fell and gave their all probably don’t want us wearing sackcloth and sitting in ashes all day Monday, they probably would appreciate it if we would pause and remember those who gave so much.
Let us stop and remember all of those who gave their all.
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Joel Langton is the founder and publisher of the 830 Times. Prior to the 830 Times, Langton served in the United States Air Force for more than 30 years. Contact him at joelalangton@gmail.com
