One of the largest crowds in recent history braved near-freezing conditions during the annual Veterans Day ceremony to pay tribute to brave military members, including 174 who died in the past year.
Nearly 300 people — about 50 more than last year — gathered at the Bartholomew County Memorial for Veterans at 11 a.m. Saturday for an hour-long ceremony that embraced reverence and remembrance.
Following tradition, a balloon was released as each name was read of the 174 former service men and women from Bartholomew County who died during the past year.
While down from 191 names last year, the total was close to the average during the past five years.
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Special reverence was reserved for Army Sgt. Jonathon Michael Hunter, 23, of Columbus, the 2011 Columbus East High School graduate who died in the line of duty Aug. 2 in southern Afghanistan while guarding a NATO convoy near Kandahar.
He was the first active Bartholomew County serviceman to be honored during the annual ceremony in eight years.
Guest speaker U.S. Sen. Todd Young, R-Indiana, a Marine from 1995 to 2000, met privately for several minutes after the ceremony with Hunter’s mother, Kimberly Thompson, and her husband, Brian Thompson, of Nashville.
“While most Gold Star parents know their son or daughter will be remembered for their service, they also want to talk about their good qualities and personalities,” Young said after the ceremony. “They want them to be remembered in a more textured way, in order for others to understand the gravity of their loss.”
Besides thinking of his son, Sgt. Hunter’s father, Mark Hunter of Columbus, said he was also reflecting Saturday on the military service offered by six other close family members, his brother, aunt, nephew and several cousins.
Young’s comments during the program included a brief story about a Gold Star mother from elsewhere in Indiana who had given him a bracelet to wear on Saturday in honor her son son, which he did.
The names of a number of esteemed Bartholomew County business and community leaders were on this year’s list to be read, including:
Merrill Clouse, Hope, community leader and businessman. Served in Army, 1942-1946. Died April 13 at age 95.
Paul Dinkins, Columbus, former president and chairman of Irwin Union Bank and Trust Company. Served in Navy, 1941-1945. Died Aug. 21 at age 97.
Robert Hayes,Columbus, former Indiana state representative. Served in Navy, 1956-1958. Died May 2 at age 83.
Glen Keller, Hope, former Flatrock-Hawcreek School Corp. superintendent. Served in Army, 1955-1957. Died Sept. 1 at age 84.
The military experience often creates a mindset that leads veterans to give a lifetime of public service, which has been essential in the growth of the community, Veterans Day Committee member Zack Ellison said.
Two additional deaths in the past year will be felt by local veteran organizations for some time, since both men had worked on their behalf for decades.
They were former Bartholomew County Veterans Affairs officer Thomas Jester of Hope, who died Feb. 13 at age 83; and Republic columnist county historian Harry McCawley, Columbus, died Sept. 28 at age 77.
It was the first ceremony in decades without McCawley providing “the beacon of light to lead us through the clouds,” master of ceremonies John Foster said. “We miss Harry’s wry smile and his chuckle, and will remember him always.”
Each of the 174 names read Saturday represented an individual who was significant and important in his or her own right.
Among them were David R. Greiwe, who served in the U.S. Coast Guard from 1967 to 1971.
The long-time Cummins Inc. employee was the first in his family to serve in the military, to graduate from college, and to survive three different episodes of cancer, said his widow, Judy Greiwe.
Greiwe, 67, of Columbus, died March 20.
“He never gave up,” Judy Greiwe said. “He was a great man.”
Retired Columbus North choral director Janie Gordon, who returned to sing the national anthem after an absence of several years, said she was also thinking about loved ones during the ceremony.
“My father, Bob Losure, was a sergeant in the Army, and my brother has served as a Marine,” Gordon said. “So I love being here to do my part.”
Gordon is a past recipient of the Patriot Award, presented by the Honoring Veterans Committee in Bartholomew County.
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These are the names of the 174 Bartholomew County residents who have died in the past 12 months that were remembered and honored Saturday for their service to our country during the annual Veterans Day service.
U.S. Army Sgt. Jonathon Michael Hunter
Averil Lynn Axsom
Stanley L. Adams
Alan Lee Allen
Michael Lewis Arford
James E. Baker
William E. Barlow Jr.
Norman Perry Barr
Terry E. Beck
Philip E. Bender
Dan S. Bennett
Rev. Edward L. Bennett
James W. Bense
Harlan Bergsieker Jr.
Louis A. Beuse
Robert Billany
Larry James Billings
Leland Thomas “Tom” Bostic
Michael L. Bower
Hargus Brewer Jr.
Lawrence A. Brock
Donald E. Brown
John W. Burgeson
Maurice Von Burton
Robert C. Calderone
Howard A. Camden
Alfred W. Carey Jr.
Donald R. Carey
Gerald E. Carvin
Webster Childers Jr.
Merrill John Clouse
Bruce A. Conner
Guy “Rex” Cook
Cecil Edward Cox
Joseph Donald Cox
Melvin Ray Crawley
Michael Lee Crippen
Dale E. Croucher
James L. Crouse
R.L. Davidson
Russell J. Dean
Donald D. Denny
Paul N. Dinkins
Gerald L. Dix
James Warren Downen
Donald Jeffrey Dugan
William Joseph Duke
David Lee Duncan
Richard H. Emmert
Howard Empson
Charles Edward England Sr.
Bobby L. Evans
Delbert W. Evans
Robert H. Everroad
William Ferguson
Anthony G. Fields
Roy L. Findley
John R. Fischer
Dorothy M. Follett
Gordon A. Fouts
Luther Paul Francis
Raymond V. Frede
Ronald L. Freese
James A. Friedrich
Richard M. Gardner
Jeanette Lynn Gibson
Ernest Gilpin
Ira Harold Green
David R. Greiwe
Richard E. Grider
Eddie L. Grigsby
Dempsey E. Grissom
Larry D. Guthrie
William R. Gutknecht
Ronald D. Harrison
Steven K. “Shaker” Harrison
Robert Dean Harvey
Wendel W. Hauck
Robert E. Hayes
Daryl A. Hemmings
Kenneth A. Hilderbrand
William V. Hill
George William Hitchcock
Jack E. Holden
Jonathan W. Holley
William R. Hovden
Clyde Dale Hoy
Melvin Ray Huntington
Charles C. Hurt
Marion N. Huseby
Thomas Eugene Jester
David W. Jones
Max K. Joslin
Glen S. Keller
Robert L. Kelley Sr.
Donald R. Lawless
Donald F. Lienhoop
Edward J. Love Sr.
Truman L. Lovins
William H. Lovins
Robert D. Lucas
Darrell K. Mace
Clarence Eugene Majors
Larry D. Mankin
Brent T. Mason
Collis L. Mayfield
Charles E. McCarty
Harry W. McCawley
Richard D. McClintic
Roger D. McClintock
Allen Duane McIntire
Bruno C. Milakovic
Edward J. Miller
Lee O. Miracle
Jack L. Moore
Donald E. Murray
Byrd B. Napier
Paul Robert “Bo” Newsom
Richard T. Newton
William Stith Noe
John R. Owen Sr.
Robert J. Owings
Eldra “Bub” Pack
Charles H. Pate
John Allen Pence
Lester E. Perkinson
James “Mike” Perry
James R. Phegley
George E. Pifer II
Vernon L. Pike
William A. Ponder
Conrad A. Powell
William A. Pumphrey Sr.
Richard Lee Purvis
Brian E. Ray
Chad Andrew Richey
Charles “Fritz” Roemmel
Jack Joseph Rosemeyer
Donald L. Scheidt
Jerry Keith Schnur
Dr. Lorain “Larry” Schultes
Kenneth D. Schultz
Paul T. Shane
Murnal “Butch” Shepherd
Michael P. Simmons
Leroy Smith
James M. Snider
John Peter Sohn
Earl Louis Sparks
William W. Spaugh
Robert E. Stark
Peter Ster
M. Dale Strahl
Leland R. Strellner
Billie Wayne Stringer
Thomas W. Sullivan
Larry I. Taylor
Howard “Cactus” Tevis
Wayne O. Truex
Roger Lewis Turner
James L. VanBlaricum
C. Geoffrey Vincent
Joseph K. Voelz
Walter Curt Voyles Jr.
Benjamin Thomas Wade III
George A. Wall
Virgil “Ike” Wasson
Donald E. Weddle Sr.
George R. Wells
Robert Walter Wendel
Loren White
Robert J. Williams
Aaron Von Williamson
Stephen T. Worland
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300: Estimated size of Veterans Day Crowd
174: Names read of military veterans with Bartholomew County ties who died over the past 12 months
33: Degrees in temperature as 11 a.m. Saturday ceremony began.
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