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• Dedication of new RF Veterans Memorial set for Monday

By: Phil Pfuehler

RIVER FALLS -- Neil Anderson recalls losing a very dear friend in the Vietnam War. The loss still haunts him.

"He stepped out of a bunker to save lives. He didn't have to do that, but he did, and he paid with his life," said Anderson, a local architect and the designer/general contractor for the new River Falls Veterans Memorial at Greenwood Cemetery.

"Since then I've lived for 40 years - making a life here, enjoying my family and all the other things he was never able to do. I've had to live with what happened to him for a long time.

"The memorial that we're going to dedicate on Memorial Day is not meant to glorify combat or the war parts, but to honor people like my friend who served and sacrificed for country."

This year's Memorial Day program on Monday will expand to include the formal dedication of the River Falls Veterans Memorial.

That dedication will be part of the American Legion-sponsored Memorial Day program starting at 10 a.m. at Greenwood Cemetery.

But there's more. A Memorial Day parade gets underway at 9:30 a.m. by Legion Hall, 700 block of North Main Street.

The procession - Legion Post 121 Honor Guard, Patriot Riders, high school marching band, Cub and Boy Scouts and others - will head south on Main Street, then east up Division Street to the cemetery.

And this year's parade promises more pageantry.

Anderson and Bernie Abrahamson - another Veterans Memorial organizer - ask that spectators join the procession. They say this was once a tradition when local Memorial Day parades were led by old veterans on horseback.

"We'd like to see the numbers in the parade swell as it gets closer to the cemetery,"

Anderson said. "If people want to bring flowers, bouquets or potted, that's great. You can carry those along as you walk and lay those inside on the pavers or by the stones in the Memorial."

Anderson said the flowers - "symbols of new life, rebirth" - can be reclaimed later and placed on cemetery markers that people had planned to visit for Memorial Day.

A partial list of the Memorial Day highlights set for Monday includes:

An Air National Guard flyover near the start of the 10 a.m. Greenwood Cemetery program. (The flyover is still tentative due to scheduling issues.)

Playing of bagpipes before and after the program.

A flag drop (weather permitting) by a parachutist onto the Greenwood School grounds across the street from the cemetery. The flag will be presented to a couple of veterans who will carry it to the cemetery.

A memorial dedication prayer by St. Bridget Church's the Rev. Gerald Harris. Reflections about the Memorial and its significance by Sandra Chapman, formerly of River Falls, whose husband John was killed in Vietnam; and by River Falls resident Bill Murphy, whose younger brother Tom was also killed in Vietnam.

A dignified raising of six flags at the Memorial site, one for each service branch: Air Force, Army, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard and Merchant Marines. There will also be a separate raising of the POW/MIA flag and a moment of silence.

Musical selections, including the National Anthem, performed by the high school marching band.

Other rural Memorial Day cemetery services will be held earlier Monday: Kinnickinnic, 7 a.m.; Mann Valley, 7:20 a.m.; Glass Valley, 8 a.m.; Cherma, 8:30 a.m.; St. Bridget, 9 a.m.