‘The right age, at the wrong time’: Veterans reflect on Memorial Day

IOWA CITY - Dressed in an officer's uniform and sitting in a wheelchair, George Dane took time Monday to think about all the people he knew who never made it home from war.

'I think about my high school class. We were the right age, but at the wrong time.”

Dane, of Iowa City, served during World War II as an infantry and transportation officer in U.S. Army. He was stationed in Europe in 1944 and 1945. He rose to first lieutenant while on active duty and later a colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves.

On Monday, at age 93, he attended a Memorial Day ceremony at Oakland Cemetery, one of many held throughout the Corridor.

About 30 people gathered under tall oak trees and among tombstones to listen to readings of the Gettysburg Address and Gen. John Logan's Order No. 11, renditions of Taps and the Star Spangled Banner, a rifle salute and a tribute to the Grand Army of the Republic.

Logan was the commander-in-chief of the Grand Army, which was a fraternal organization for Union veterans. After the Civil War ended, in May 1868, Logan issued an order that established the Memorial Day observance.

May 30, 1868 would be the day for 'Strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country” and 'in their own way arrange such fitting services and testimonials of respect as circumstances may permit.”

At first called Decoration Day, the remembrance every May later became known as Memorial Day.

Oakland Cemetery has a few dozen gravestones that are part of the Grand Army lot. On Monday, they were marked with star-shaped metal coins imprinted with 'GAR - 1861-1865” and an American Flag waving above.

Donald Gentzsch, who served in Vietnam from 1969 to 1971, said Memorial Day remains as important as ever.

'It's a time to remember all of the people I knew in the service and people I don't know but read about,” Gentzsch said 'It's a long legacy.”

Gentzsch attended events on Monday with his daughter-in-law, Christina. William Gentzsch, Christina's husband and Donald's son, is being deployed to Afghanistan. Christina Gentzsch delivered the benediction during the ceremony at Oakland Cemetery and earlier in the morning at Park Avenue bridge. The earlier ceremony honored those lost at sea.

'Today is about appreciating them, what they've done and where we are as a country,” Christina Gentzsch said.

About 30 people gathered on the Park Road bridge. Flags draped over the rails, and attendees threw wreaths into the Iowa River as a symbolic gesture for fallen soldiers and sailors.

'At cemeteries, we can look at who is buried here and remember them, but what about the bodies we never recover,” said John Mikelson, a military outreach officer at the Veteran's Memorial Building in Cedar Rapids. 'This is for them.”

Mikelson served as the master of ceremonies for multiple events on Monday, including at Oakland Cemetery, Park Road bridge and Memory Gardens, also in Iowa City.

Standing on the Park Road bridge, sisters Jane, 65, and Mary Kindred, 68, of Iowa City, said they wanted to remember their father, who drove a tank in the U.S. Army First Armored Division during World War II. He was injured and earned the Purple Heart, they said.

Mary Kindred also served in the Army as a Russian voice interceptor from 1980 to 2000, which included service during the Cold War and when the Iron Curtain came down.

'Today is about patriotism,” Mary Kindred said. 'We were always brought up that way - to come out on Memorial Day and honor what soldiers have given.”

Several other events also took place on Monday.

In Cedar Rapids, a Purple Heart memorial was dedicated at the All Veterans Memorial Park honoring those killed or wounded in action and a tribute was held at Cedar Memorial Cemetery. The Veterans Memorial Trail near the Coralville Lake received three new names as part of a ceremony.