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Cedar Rapids Memorial Day ceremony honors deceased veterans
‘Noncombat deaths are so prevalent and yet, so invisible,’ says speaker at Memorial Day service
May. 26, 2025 3:28 pm, Updated: May. 27, 2025 8:01 am
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CEDAR RAPIDS — Community members gathered Monday morning in the Veterans Memorial Building in Cedar Rapids to begin their Memorial Day observance by honoring deceased veterans in a ceremony organized by the Metro Veterans Council of Cedar Rapids
“This is a good way to start Memorial Day,” Bev Chariton, a U.S. Army veteran who attended the event, said. “I wish more people would come to these things, even if they have no affiliation with the military.”
Chariton said she was especially impressed by the live music at the event, which was provided by two Cedar Rapids-based music groups: New Horizons Band and the 21st Century Vocals.
The musicians performed the national anthem to start off the ceremony and other patriotic songs throughout the event, including the service songs for each branch of the military.
Cedar Rapids Mayor Tiffany O’Donnell read a proclamation, declaring Memorial Day in the city of Cedar Rapids, and there was also a short presentation from Deafinitely Dogs, a nonprofit that provides service dogs to veterans for free.
“We don’t just want to honor the names on the plaques. We want to honor the service that lives in all of you, in our veterans, every day, who call this city home. To all of you who serve, from the bottom of our grateful hearts, thank you,” O’Donnell said, before reading her proclamation.
The main speaker for the event was Capt. Andrew Callahan, a Cedar Rapids native who is a veteran of the Marines, the Army, and the National Guard and has been deployed overseas three times. He is now an instructor of industrial maintenance technology at Kirkwood Community College and serves as a school adviser to Kirkwood’s Veteran’s Association.
Callahan spoke about the importance of honoring on Memorial Day all veterans who have died, even those whose deaths were not combat related.
“If you’ve put on the uniform, I know you’ve been touched by the death of a fellow service member. Noncombat deaths are so prevalent and yet, so invisible. They’re so hard to talk about because they’re not heroic. Often their death is far removed from a war zone,” Callahan said.
He told stories of people he has served with who have died since their time in the armed forces, including his own brother who died in 2017 from suicide — an unfortunately common cause of death for veterans.
Callahan told the story of spending the night together with his brother in the barracks at Fort Stewart when Callahan was unable to be home for the birth of his first son. He said he likes to focus on that good memory when honoring his brother’s life.
“If we honor only service members who died in combat, or ones who fit a compelling narrative, we dismiss or discount the memory of those who served and died, but under different circumstances,” Callahan said. “Memorial Day is not just about remembering how someone died. It’s remembering their life that was cut short, their hopes and promises for the future. I encourage you today to remember each service member’s life and how they lived, not how they died.”
Chariton said she was glad to be able to attend the event as a way of starting the holiday, adding that she can still enjoy all of the regular, long-weekend festivities later in the day, but she appreciated the reminder of what Memorial Day is really about.
“I just think it’s the right thing to do,” Chariton said.
Comments: (319) 398-8328; emily.andersen@thegazette.com
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