Post Office rededications by the Republicans get a pile of grief here. (Not because the Republicans are passing ceremonial legislation, but because it seems they can only pass ceremonial legislation.)
Yesterday, my wife and I attended the rededication of the Chadron (NE) Post Office. More about that below.
Sgt. Cory R. Mracek was part of a group in the 101st Airborne Division who were killed in an ambush during the Iraq War.
Senator Deb Fischer (R-NE) and former Senator Mike Johanns (R-NE) introduced legislation to rename the Chadron Post Office in his honour.
The ceremony was yesterday; because the weather was so awful, it was held in the Chadron National Guard Armory.
Gold Star Family members (a group of people no one wants to be a part of) were honoured guests at the ceremony (including me).
Several members of Sgt. Mracek's group were present at the ceremony.
Gold Star Families from across Nebraska, Wyoming, South Dakota, and Colorado attended. The names of fallen servicemembers of all Gold Star Families present were read at the dedication. About one hundred other people from across the region also attended. Supporters of Honor and Remember and representatives were also present, as were military veterans, postal officials, and staffers from Deb Fischer's and Adrian Smith's (R-NE3) office.
The specifics of Sgt. Cory's military service were recounted to the assembly, as well as vignettes of his service and personal life by his comrades. His mother, the president of the Nebraska Gold Star Mothers was the final and keynote speaker.
Due to poor weather, the ceremony was held at the Chadron National Guard Armory.
Afterward, the Chadron Best Western motel hosted a dinner for the Gold Star Families in attendance.
Such ceremonies are a way for families to get together and offer each other support; indeed, that is the specific purpose of the American Gold Star Mothers Association.
While military members who fall in combat are ofttimes honoured by the community, families of those members are frequently forgotten. After my father was killed in Vietnam, I was denigrated and shunned in school, even by teachers and administrators, because a seven-year old has everything to do with foreign policy. That went on for the rest of the time I was in school due to the hatred surrounding the Vietnam War.
As I noted in a previous diary on April 1, coming to terms surrounding the death of my own father has been a long time coming. It should not have taken forty-five years. Regardless of the good or bad reasons our nation enters this war or that, the families should not be ignored (or worse, punished).
My own family will be recognised on May 9, at Creighton University and ConAgra in Omaha, during a college baseball game between Creighton and the University of Nevada Las Vegas, along with eight other families. Honor and Remember will host a ceremony during the game for those nine families (having us stand on the dugout).
That game will be televised on Nebraska Educational Television 2 at 6:30 PM Central Time (schedule).