APPLETON, Wis. (WFRV) – Memorial Day brings everyone together as we remember those who cannot be brought back from the tragedy of war.
“I think about it quite a bit,” Mike Thill said of his time in the Army from 1964-69, serving in the Vietnam War. “I lost a brother-in-law, lost a good school friend over there, two of my kin were shot up and are still suffering from it today.”
Community members gather in De Pere for Kiwanis Memorial Day Parade
As the bands and vehicles drove by, Thill said he could not stop thinking about those who made the ultimate sacrifice and could not find words to express what that meant to him.
“The men and women who gave their lives and aren’t here. It’s hard to put into words, just hard to put into words. Believe me. You know the families are hurting, and they’re still remembering,” he said. “I was not going to come down here, but I decided to come down and honor them by being here, watching this, and it just brings back a lot of memories.”
Thill does not miss the fact that he survived while so many died, and he frequently thinks about it.
“I give credit to God for getting me back here because without that, I wouldn’t have nothing,” he said. “Everybody [in the service] made the sacrifice so we can be free.”
The parade is led by a hearse and followed by a horse-drawn one. Cody Cavanaugh, the president of Cavanaugh’s Carriages, has driven the horse-drawn hearse in the parade for over two decades.
“It’s good to come see everybody, a lot of people recognize us now,” Cavanaugh said. “I hope it gives [the veterans] a sense of joy and peace at the same time, and just a strong symbol of freedom.”
The parade ends at Riverside Cemetery with a ceremony that includes contributions from local bands and music groups, high school students, a keynote speaker, and local veterans groups. Jan Hoffman, Post 38 American Legion commander, helped put it all together.
“This is our chance to remember everyone who’s gone before us, everyone who’s not here today,” Hoffman said. “Everyone knows someone who was either in the service or someone who may not have returned from service. So this is the day for everyone to come together and recognize those veterans.”
There were few dry eyes as Amazing Grace rang out through the bagpipes. Vietnam War Army veteran Richard Hollnagel remains upset that Americans were drafted into the war, and often thinks about the opinion that he’s had ever since that it was never going to be worth the loss of life.
“A lot. It’s kind of debilitating in ways, but you learn to live with it. I think it was a terrible waste of lives,” he said. “We lost 34 in one night.”
He remembers that many of his comrades felt the same way, that they desperately did not want to be waging war on the other side of the world.
“People were crying, and they had never been away from home,” he said.
Not a day goes by that he does not think about the soldiers that he fought alongside and who ended up being killed.
“All the time. They never go away. My best buddies and everything, I just wonder what they’d be doing now,” Hollnagel said. “I lost a lot of friends. And they had so many dreams and never got to fulfill them.”
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For him, Memorial Day has one meaning.
“Means that we should never forget those people that never came home.”
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