Several hundred people attended the annual Memorial Day ceremony at the American Legion Post 255 in Ridge. The event also featured the dedication of a portion of Point Lookout Road as a Veterans Gold Star Memorial Highway.
Post Commander Skip Disharoon introduced the guests, including Rep. Steny Hoyer. He said the dedication of the road will serve as a reminder of those who have served for everyone who drives on Route 5. “It is for those who have given their lives in service to our country.” Hoyer singled out for honor the St. Mary’s countians who have died in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars: PFC Raymond Faulstick (2004 in Iraq), Cpl. Matthew Wallace (2006 in Iraq) and Sgt. Ryan Patrick Baumann (2008 in Afghanistan).
State Sen. Roy Dyson said, “I can’t imagine anywhere else you would want to be than here today.” He blasted the members of the Westboro Baptist Church, whose picketing activities at military funerals were upheld by the Supreme Court. Dyson said if the Supreme Court members were elected, “I would have them all thrown out.”
Dyson said the general assembly passed a bill to limit what he called the so-called churches’ “despicable” activity by requiring it be 500 feet instead of 100 feet from the funeral. “If the right number of busses and cars get in the way, there will be no protests,” Dyson said, to a round of applause.
Keynote speaker at the event was Army Col. John T. Smith, a post member currently assigned to the U.S. Army War College. Smith noted the support of the people left behind by deployed service members. “We could not do the service we are doing around the world today without the support of our families.”
Col. Smith recently walked on hallowed ground at the Normandy cemetery at Omaha Beach. “Today’s military continue that tradition of service,” he said.
Smith’s sister, Command MSgt Kathy Smith (USAF-Ret) accompanied him to the event and helped him dedicate the plaque for the portion of Point Lookout Road in front of the post as a Veterans Gold Star Highway, a tradition he said went back to right after World War II.
The marker was donated by District II Federated Garden Clubs of Maryland. Past Director, District 2 Sylvia Deck represented the club at the ceremony.
After the speeches, wreaths were laid at the memorial in front of the post by a number of different veterans and community organizations, including the county commissioners, represented by President Francis “Jack” Russell and Commissioners Cindy Jones and Todd Morgan.
Also attending the event were NAS Commanding Officer Capt. Stephen Schmeiser and Del. John Bohanan.
