{"id":130515,"date":"2026-05-25T14:41:51","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T20:41:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-rico-residents-honor-fallen-service-members-on-memorial-day\/"},"modified":"2026-05-25T15:22:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T21:22:16","slug":"cortez-rico-residents-honor-fallen-service-members-on-memorial-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/cortez-rico-residents-honor-fallen-service-members-on-memorial-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Cortez, Rico residents honor fallen service members on Memorial Day"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Honor
Honor Guard Chaplain John Shriner speaks to veterans and family members on Memorial Day at Valley Rico Cemetery, where 20 service members are buried. (Ann Marie Vanderveen\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

At the Cortez Cemetery, small flags billowed next to the graves of soldiers who died in combat while veterans and community members alike gathered at the American Legion Ute Mountain Post 75 to honor them. Attendees donned the traditional red poppies for Monday\u2019s Memorial Day celebration and the Honor Guard, clad in their navy caps, carried in rifles for the 21-gun salute.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s so few families now that have a veteran in their family,\u201d John Shriner, chaplain of the Honor Guard, said. \u201cThat\u2019s who built this country, helped establish it and has helped keep its freedom ever since.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cortez is an exception, Shriner said, with a highly visible community of those who served as well as those with family members who served.<\/p>\n

\"Cortez
Cortez Honor Guard members chat over coffee at the American Legion Ute Mountain Post 75 on Monday while attendees of a Memorial Day celebration filter in. (Ann Marie Vanderveen\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"The
The American Legion Ute Mountain Post 75 laid out poppies for people to adorn their shirts as a symbol of remembrance for deceased military personnel. (Ann Marie Vanderveen\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cThis community\u2019s a little more in touch with veterans than the country at large,\u201d Shriner said.<\/p>\n

Attendees held their silence during the firing of rifles and the playing of taps, with some veterans lifting their hands to their brows to salute. Volunteers, who rose before 5 a.m. to cook, served biscuits and gravy, eggs, bacon and sausage. However, the event\u2019s head chef and commander of the Sons of the American Legion, Gary Dausch, said attendance was sparser than expected.<\/p>\n

\"Volunteers,
Volunteers, working to prepare food since 5 a.m., serve attendees of the American Legion Ute Mountain Post 75\u2019s Memorial Day breakfast. While the breakfast was free and open to the public, the American Legion encouraged attendees to donate toward a new set of chairs for the space. (Ann Marie Vanderveen\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Usually, he said, the Memorial Day breakfast exceeds 100 people, estimating that this year, attendance barely scraped 75. He attributed the dwindling number to political division. On this Memorial Day, President Donald Trump says he\u2019s negotiating an end to the widely unpopular war in Iran which has killed 13 U.S. service members.<\/p>\n

\"Veterans
Veterans stand silent and salute during the bugle call traditional of Memorial Day services at the American Legion\u2019s Cortez post. (Ann Marie Vanderveen\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cThis should be a day when there is no division,\u201d Dausch said. \u201cWhether you\u2019re a Democrat or a Republican, you should be here supporting these troops.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dausch\u2019s grandfather served in World War II, and while Dausch was rejected from the military due to his asthma, he still embedded himself within the veteran community that deserves honor and respect.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf my country needed me today, I\u2019d be there today as with anybody else in this room,\u201d Dausch said.<\/p>\n

As the Cortez-based festivities wound down, the honor guard made the pilgrimage to Rico where residents lined the highway dividing the town\u2019s cemetery. A slight chill rippled through the air and gun smoke rose toward the clouds following the 21-gun salute.<\/p>\n

\"Members
Members of Rico\u2019s fire department banked their flashing trucks off on one side of the Valley Rico Cemetery to protect the Memorial Day service being held near an active highway. Honor Guard Chaplain John Shriner said a strong community of veterans and their family members turn out each year. (Ann Marie Vanderveen\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cWe on the Honor Guard have a special place in our hearts for Rico \u2013 not only for those buried here, but for the residents living here who turn out every year to gather here,\u201d Shriner said in a speech to the small crowd.<\/p>\n

He noted Rico\u2019s strong veteran community as well as its continued enthusiasm for services like those on Memorial Day.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe come every year to attend this service,\u201d Town Mayor Pat Fallon, accompanied by the fire department, said. \u201cThe civil service industry is all tied together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Seven
Seven Cortez Honor Guard members hoist their rifles and fire three shots each, meeting the 21 shots required for a 21-gun salute. (Ann Marie Vanderveen\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Rico\u2019s Fire Chief Todd Jones said he and his wife\u2019s fathers \u2013 both veterans \u2013 are buried in the cemetery along with many other deceased service members with ties to the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s quite a few here,\u201d Jones said.<\/p>\n

With the next Memorial Day coming up in another year, Dausch believes that one day of attention and respect isn\u2019t sufficient.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne thank you is not enough,\u201d Dausch said. \u201cThey deserve this every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

avanderveen@the-journal.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

American Legion’s Honor Guard held ceremonies remembering soldiers killed in action<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":130516,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[2641,28,29,497,6419,184],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-130515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-american-legion","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter","tag-rico","tag-tj-trueanthem","tag-veterans-affairs"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130515"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130515\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":130520,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130515\/revisions\/130520"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/130516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130515"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=130515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}