An annual balloon release, established several years ago to honor recently-deceased local veterans, will no longer be a part of ceremonies held at the Bartholomew County Memorial for Veterans.
Instead, the veterans events planning committee has obtained a large, nickel-plated 10-inch bell that will be sounded each time the name of a departed veteran is read during the annual Memorial Day ceremony, committee member Zack Ellison said.
“Citizens have complained about environmental concerns from balloon releases,” explained Bartholomew County commissioner’s chairman Larry Kleinhenz.
When these lighter-than-air balloons come down and enter the environment, they can become hazards, according to the Environmental Nature Center.
Deflated balloons have been mistaken for food by countless animals, causing some of them to die, the center’s website states. In addition, these balloons are also known to cause power outages and pollute remote and pristine places, while the strings can cause death by entanglement.
The tradition of releasing a single balloon after each name of a recently-deceased veteran is read doesn’t have an extensively-long history in Columbus.
The balloon release began in the year 2000 as a campaign by the Funeral Directors Association of America, which was held in conjunction with the construction of the national World War II memorial in Washington D.C.
Mindful that World War II veterans were dying with increasing frequency, the 18,500 member association asked its members to coordinate a symbolic ritual on Veterans Day. Specifically, the association asked for something that would take note of those veterans who had passed on during the previous year. But as of last year, there were only 6,513 surviving veterans of World War II in Indiana, as well as 84,900 Korean War veterans.
For the next 20 years, the names of every former military member who had died since the previous Veteran’s Day were read at the annual Nov. 11 observance. But there was no Veteran’s Day observance in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Earlier this year, the planning committee announced the names would be read during the Memorial Day observance. Ellison said it was determined it was more appropriate to read the names on a holiday that honors those who died for their country, rather than on Veterans Day, which honors living, as well as dead, former military personnel.
Last Memorial Day, the Bartholomew County Funeral Directors Association had the daunting task of filling 265 balloons with helium, tying them off with a string, put them inside a vehicle, transport them to the memorial, and coordinate the balloon release among multiple people as each name was read.
Members of the association felt as the committee did that the balloon release had run its course, Ellison said.
In contrast, the use of bells for military funerals and services has been a tradition in Great Britain for centuries, and has traditionally been used by the U.S. Navy for burials at sea.
While the ringing of several bells has usually signaled something joyous, the single toll of a bell represents the veteran’s willingness to sacrifice their life for their country, according to the Honor Bell Foundation.
“This is not a decline in the honoring of veterans,” Ellison said. “I think it’s a step up. We actually think the bell will be a more moving tribute than the balloons.”
