{"id":46477,"date":"2021-05-31T20:52:00","date_gmt":"2021-06-01T02:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/durango-remembers-the-fallen-on-memorial-day\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:32:02","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:32:02","slug":"durango-remembers-the-fallen-on-memorial-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/durango-remembers-the-fallen-on-memorial-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Durango remembers the fallen on Memorial Day"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Veterans
Veterans laid a wreath in the Animas River on Monday to remember sailors in the Navy and Coast Guard who died in the country\u2019s armed conflicts. From left are Fred Riedinger, Stacy Valencia, Frederic Shry and Terry Saxon. (Patrick Armijo\/Durango Herald)<\/span>Patrick Armijo<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Durango remembered those who had fallen for the country, veterans who gave the ultimate sacrifice in armed conflicts and those who struggled and died after returning home with three separate ceremonies on Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cMemorial Day is for all soldiers, men and women, anyone who served their country and died, not only in combat, but many die from combat after returning home,\u201d said American Legion Post 28 Cmdr. Stacy Valencia after a Memorial Day ceremony at Greenmount Cemetery.<\/p>\n

Valencia served three different stints in the Army, first along the Czechoslovakia-West German border during the Cold War and later in Iraq and Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

Fred Riedinger, who served in the Coast Guard, played taps at a ceremony at noon \u2013 the laying a wreath in the Animas River at the bridge near Rotary Park to honor sailors who had lost their lives.<\/p>\n

\"A
A crowd of about 70 people gathered at the bridge near Rotary Park for a wreath laying ceremony to remember sailors who lost their lives during the country\u2019s armed conflicts. (Patrick Armijo\/Durango Herald)<\/span>Patrick Armijo<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

He said he hoped ceremonies like the wreath laying prompt younger people to study history and learn about the conflicts where soldiers and sailors have laid down their lives to protect their liberties.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey used to teach world history in schools, but now they teach social studies,\u201d Riedinger said. \u201cFamily members who serve never talk about their service. The reason we do things like this is for the youth. Hopefully, they will educate themselves about who they are and why they are here and the sacrifices that people have made for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Chris
Chris Meyer delivers remarks at a ceremony at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Iris Park. Meyer read the names of 42 Coloradans who died in Afghanistan since 2002. (Patrick Armijo\/Durango Herald)<\/span>Patrick Armijo<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Brian McAleer, a member of the honor guard at ceremonies at the Veterans Memorial at Greenmount Cemetery and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Iris Park, said he\u2019s grateful to those who have served in Afghanistan and Iraq.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m grateful for all the young people serving now. It\u2019s all volunteer. I consider myself to be a survivor. It\u2019s a whole different world now with all volunteers,\u201d said McAleer, who served in the Navy during the Vietnam War.<\/p>\n

About 200 people attended ceremonies at Greenmount Cemetery and Iris Park. About 70 people attended the wreath laying on the bridge over the Animas River near Rotary Park.<\/p>\n

Many people don\u2019t comprehend the risk entailed with military service, McAleer said, and people should be especially grateful for current military members who sign up voluntarily.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to recognize the sacrifices of Iraqi and Afghanistan vets. It\u2019s about them now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Michael McLachlan, a former state representative who served in the Marine Corps in the Vietnam War, said he believes a core of Americans will always be willing to serve their country.<\/p>\n

But he believes service is being divided along class lines.<\/p>\n

He said it would be better for the country if everyone out of high school would be required to serve two years in \u201ccitizen service.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said two years in one of the military branches, in the Peace Corps or in other public service would help young adults.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think two years of public service would help people grow up a bit,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

parmijo@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vietnam veteran grateful for young people serving now<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46478,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[4707,28,598],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-46477","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-armed-conflict","tag-headlines","tag-public-holiday"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46477","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=46477"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46477\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86894,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46477\/revisions\/86894"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46477"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46477"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46477"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=46477"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}