ASHLAND – Like every man and woman who enlists in the military, Master Chief Barry Sponsler signed and swore an oath of enlistment.
He spoke about that oath Monday as keynote speaker at Ashland’s annual Memorial Day parade and ceremony.
“If you think about it, we really are signing a blank check to our country to go, to do, whatever is asked of us, anytime, anywhere,” said Sponsler, a Navy veteran who served in the Vietnam War, Desert Storm, and operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom.
That oath requires commitment and sacrifice, Sponsler said, not only on the part of the military member but also on the part of their family. Not everyone who takes the oath returns home alive.
“This is a day to honor and remember those who have gone before us who have not returned, who paid the ultimate sacrifice, who have given their lives for our country, our freedoms and our way of life,” Sponsler said.
Sponsler emphasized that the oath of enlistment is a commitment to support and defend the United States constitution– not a person or a political view or a movement.
True patriotism, he said, is not about the political colors of red or blue but about the patriotic colors of red, white and blue.
Sponsler’s remarks were made at the Ashland Cemetery following the Memorial Day parade, which traveled down Main Street from Union Street to the cemetery as hundreds of spectators looked on.
The approximately 40 parade units included the Ashland High School marching band, veterans’ organizations, elected officials, representatives of law enforcement agencies and first responders, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and others.
Veterans of Operation Desert Storm served as parade marshals and were honored during the ceremony.
Attendees of Monday’s ceremony watched as youth representing Amvets Post 96, VFW Post 1067, American Legion Harry Higgins Post 88 and Disabled American Veterans Chapter 81 placed bouquets at the Ashland County Fallen Heroes Memorial.
Larry Salyers gave the invocation and benediction and also read about the battle cross, a symbolic marker made from a rifle, helmet and boots that is placed for soldiers killed in battle.
Battery D fired canons and the Ashland Honor Guard played Taps. Stan Stine sang the National Anthem and led the crowd in singing “God Bless America,” and Sheriff E. Wayne Risner served as master of ceremonies.
