Cleveland honors deceased veterans on Memorial Day

Fifteen minutes before the Cleveland Memorial Day ceremony was about to start at Calvary Cemetery, Legion members determined that Monday’s showers would continue, and they would have to move the service inside.

So they packed up their rifles, wreaths and flags, and, along with the band bus and everyone else, drove the two miles back to town to reunite in the new gym.

With 25 years in the Navy, guest speaker Mark Roemhildt, who is currently the Le Sueur County Veterans Service Officer, is no stranger to dealing with inclement weather, but he was glad to be inside to present his address, how at some point the individuals we are honoring “signed a blank check up to and including their very lives.”

As a CVSO, Roemhildt says he knows that Minnesota does an excellent job caring for its veterans. For the 1600 veterans in Le Sueur County, last year’s VA expenditure for healthcare, disability compensation, pension and education was an “incredible” $17.3 million, he said.

Also during the ceremony, Cleveland Pack 15 Cub Scouts, second graders Madison Green, Jordyn Gehrke and Jordan Schummer posted and retired the colors.

Legion member Jim Beckel provided the innovation and benediction. Legion member Andy Queen led the Pledge of Allegiance.

With Queen narrating, Cleveland Troop 68 Boy Scouts junior Jackson Bowen, fifth grader Robert Hammermeister and sixth grader Geoffery Gehrke conducted the flag folding ceremony.

Saluting the dead, the Legion Color Guard Firing Squad fired off three volleys followed by seventh grader August Keltgen on taps.

Placing the memorial wreaths were Beckel for the Legion Post, Anne Hiller for the Legion Auxiliary and Greg Davis for the Sons of the American Legion. Davis took the opportunity to evoke his mother, Georgia Davis (1918-2000), a WWII Army nurse who, as a guest speaker during past Memorial and Veterans Days ceremonies, recounted her experience as a captain and Bronze Star recipient in General Patton’s army.

Under the direction of Erik Hermanson, the Junior High Band provided music, including “Armed Forces on Parade,” a Hermanson-arranged medley of the songs of the six service branches: “Anchors Aweigh” for the U.S. Navy, “The Caissons Go Rolling Along” for the U.S. Army, “The Wild Blue Yonder” for the U.S. Air Force, “The Marines’ Hymn” for the U.S. Marine Corps, “Semper Paratus” for the U.S. Coast Guard and “Semper Supra” for the U.S. Space Force; the “Star-Spangled Banner” and “Chorale 5.”