(This is the script from today's ceremony)
CORVALLIS POST #91 THE AMERICAN LEGION,
DEPARTMENT OF MONTANA, INC.
1. “Amazing Grace”
2. Opening Prayer
3. Commander’s Opening Remarks
4. Remarks by Zack Gambill for Congressman Ryan Zinke
5. “Gettysburg Address”
6. Reading of the Names
7. Rifle Volley
8. “Taps”
9. Closing Prayer
10. Thank you and reminder about the wreath laying at the Woodside Bridge
11. Bridge Ceremony
Chaplain:
“Let us pray.
Almighty God,
Giver of all victories,
we thank Thee for the opportunities which abide in our land,
for Thy guidance in the hour of peril and Thy tender love in times of need.
Help us to remember with reverence the valor and devotion of our departed comrades;
not only those whose bodies consecrate our country’s soil,
but also those who sleep beyond the seas,
and others whose resting places will not be known until that last day when the deep will have given up its dead.
O God,
teach us to honor them by ever cherishing the ideals for which they fought.
Keep us steadfast in the cause of human rights and liberties,
of law and order,
and true Americanism.
Give us the power to see and the will to do right.
Grant that The American Legion may preserve the high ideals for which our comrades died.
May Thy merciful blessing rest upon those they left behind.
Keep us forever firm in righteousness,
humble of heart,
and unselfish in purpose.
Amen.”
Commander:
“Comrades, this day is sacred with the almost visible presence of those who have gone before us.
We honor the memory of those who gave their lives in the service of our country,
and of those others who have dropped their burdens by the wayside of life, and are gone to their eternal rest.
May the ceremonies of today deepen our reverence for our departed friends and comrades.
Let us renew our pledge of loyalty to our country and its flag.
Let us resolve by word and deed to emphasize the privilege and duty of patriotism.”
Gettysburg Address
By Abraham Lincoln
November 19, 1863
Four score and seven years ago
our fathers brought forth on this continent,
a new nation,
conceived in Liberty,
and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war,
testing whether that nation,
or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure.
We are met on a great battle-field of that war.
We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live.
It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense,
we cannot dedicate
-- we cannot consecrate
-- we cannot hallow
-- this ground.
The brave men, living and dead,
who struggled here,
have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.
The world will little note,
nor long remember what we say here,
but it can never forget what they did here.
It is for us the living,
rather,
to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.
It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us
-- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion
-- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain
-- that this nation,
under God,
shall have a new birth of freedom
-- and that government of the people,
by the people,
for the people,
shall not perish from the earth.
Post Commander
Charter Members of Corvallis Post #91, The American Legion, Department of Montana
Ruspor D. Giesey
Sidney A. Johnson
George B. Korman
George A. Lairy
George O. Rasmussen
Mexican War, 1846 -1848
E.M. Galloway
Civil War, 1861 -1865
John Q. Adams
J.A.C. Burch
James H. Burks
Rev. William Cobleigh
Dr. Joseph T. Coughenour
Jeremiah "Jerry" M. Earnest
William, H.H. Friend
Peter Friend
John H. Goff
Naaman Johnson
William D. Lear
Samuel Mitchell
William J. Park
John William Popham
John Printz
Jesse J. Russell
James W. Smithey
BF Strange
Robert Vance
John E. Walker
William C. Wan
George W. Ward
John F. Wood
Joshua T. Wood
Civil War and Battle of the Big Hole
Joseph G. Hull
Civil War and Nez Perce Campaign of 1877
John L. Humble
Veterans born from 1826 to 1850
William T. Whitesitt
Thomas L. Randolph
Battle of the Big Hole, 1877
Newton J. Chaffin
Samuel O. Chaffin
Eugene Lent
M.F. Sherrill
Killed in Action at the Battle of the Big Hole, 1877
A.J. Lockwood
C.L. Mitchell
Nez Perce Campaign of 1877
Alex M. Chaffin
Michael M. Humble
John A. Summers
Indian Wars, 1865 – 1890
James A. Chaffin
Joseph C. Puttman
Spanish American War, 1898
Walter E. Church
J. Fred Johnson
John M. Reed
Philippine War, 1899 – 1902
Otto B. Haverlandt
Veterans born from 1851 to 1870
William R. Eddings
Henry Hawkins
Benjamin A. Matthews
William G. Smith
Veterans born from 1871 to 1885
Edward Albertson
William W. Dove
Harrie E. Fierce
Martin P. Heiser
Edmond A. Kimberly
World War I, 1917 – 1918
Fred T. Adair
John E. Babcock
John Edward Backlin
Walter C. Bates
Callie L. Billings
Lewis A. Brisbin
Fay O. Burrell
Richard Carlson
Roy Chaffin
Booth Chestnutt
Harry Crerar
Edwin P. Daniels
Franklin B. "Bud" Downing
Carl J. Erickson
John Olsen Freim
Milton E. Gallup
John A. Hill
Wendell P. Johnson
Edward Johnson
World War I, 1917 – 1918
Thomas S. Kane
Ralph James Laws
William Lemon
Chester Lindquist, Sr.
A.L. Lindsey
Gomer Albert Lockridge
Loren Matthews
Lawerence A. McCarty
James R. McCarty
James McGillen
Roy Moore
Harland Otis Paddock
Robert W. Poll
George Arthur Riley
A.E. "Kelly" Robbins
Joseph Roth
Louie W. Seibel
Ray Severns
E. Jay Severns
William A. Shambow
William Howard Simmons
John Dewey Smith
William H. Sparman
Herbert L. Summers
Fred Summers
Leland F. Summers
Charles A. Talbot
Alfred L. Vaughn
Walter H. Williams
Earl M. Yonkers
Killed in Action in World War I
George Bedell
Veterans born from 1886 to 1900
John C. "Jack" Hamilton
Seth Arlow Hancock
Hobart H. Holloron
Milton S. Howe
Alvie W. Ingalls
Webb Koch
Ralph E. Loving
Terry Frank Martin
Lee McOmber
Robert J. Miller
Ingward E. Nordheim
Forbes Robbins
Walter Guy Severns
Troy E. Sink
J.M. "Blondy" Smith
William J.B. Smith
Robert D. Stanley
William L. Young
World War II, 1941 – 1945
Lynn M. Allen
John Oliver Backlin
Alvin J. Bailey, Sr.
William "Bill" Barnes
Max Barr
Walter L. Barr
Robert Bay
George Belanger
Frank J. Berko
Ralph J. Blotzke
Glyn E. Brawley
Calvin F. Brazeal
William Wallace Brown
Russell Brown
Quentin J. Brown
World War II, 1941 – 1945
William D. "Jack" Bryan
Bruce Bryson
Everett Burks
David Burnham
Robert D. Caldwell
James G. Carmichael
Delbert Carter
Virgil L. Carter
Roland F. Chase
Elmer R. Cherry
Charles Clack
George Cullom
Ralph C. Curtis
John Dawson
George Dearborn, Jr.
Frank Diggs
C.F. "Bus" Donaldson
Richard A. Dowse
Doyle E. Dunbar
Jesse L. Elliot
Robert Engler
Ralph Eslinger
James Leroy Evans
Leon Eychner
Lawrence Farnes
Everett Charles Felix
Donald L. Felton
William A. "Bill" Ferguson
Sgt. Lester J. Fink
Raymond Fleenor
Homer F. Fulton
Gilbert Gander
Morris Gardner
Nathaniel T. Garrard
Dorothy Gibson
World War II, 1941 – 1945
Eunice Gustafson
Carl A. Gustafson
Paul "Roscoe" Hall
Obern Hamilton
John H. "Jack" Hawker
Ruth C. Healey
Alden E. Hegge
Herbert Ray Hess
Mary Hopkins
Fredrick J. Hosko
Ralph Waldo Houston
Vergil E. Hudson
Elizabeth W. Johnson
Gerald G. Jorgensen
Paul W. Kenney
Max Edmond Kimberly
Omer Knight
Jay Wesley Koch
Jess Lamar
Charles "Lee" Lear
Jacob Edward Lesofski
Ralph Loving
Malcolm "Bud" MacGregor
Berneice B. Maker
Thomas P. Menager
Loren Robert Miller
Bert Miller
Matthew P. Mirabella
Domnic Moraca
Orson Mortenson
Charles L. Neaves
Glenn Ohl
James Pelkey
Arlie Peterson
Delbert H. Plumb
Richard D. Randolph
Willard J. Rasmussen
World War II, 1941 – 1945
Melvin Reeves
Engolf Rehn
George Riley
John Rivera
Mary Jane Willis Rivera
Joseph R. Roth
Joseph Rotunno
Lawrence A. Ruben
Clarence Leo Ruedin
Benjamin F. Severns
Ben Shackelfurd
Walter Shilt
Arthur Slocum
Katherine A. Slocum
Fred W. Smith
Harry W. Smith
Robert E. Smyth
Eugene Farrell Snell
Roy Lee Snell, Jr.
J. Frank Stanford
Thomas T. Stanford
Orval L. Stanhope
Gordon V. Stevens
Richard Louis "Lew" Stock
Elbert M. Stoll
Kenneth N. Swanson
Kenneth G. Talbot
W. Frank Tanner
Avery Taylor
Arthur C. Taylor
William A. Terou
Robert "Bob" Titeca
Delwin J. Unrue
George C. VanEssen
Harold M. Vaughn
William Alfred Vincent
World War II, 1941 – 1945
Joseph T. Weber
John D. White
Carl Byron Wickham
Kenneth V. Wickham
George S. Wilson
John R. Wilson
Clarence W. Wolfe
Charles W. Wolfe
James Wood, Sr.
Asa I. Yerian
George Zacha
Arndt J. Zeller
John H. Zwicker
Verne E. Chaffin
Frank K. Dilger
Charles Henry Dunbar
Gerald A. Gibbons
Gordon Gilleland
Myron L. Goodwin
Gene William Hefner
Roland H. Hull
John "Dee" Park
Raymond Guy Patterson
Lloyd S. Ward
Killed in Action in World War II
Edgar B. "Bud" Scott
Veterans born from 1901 -1915
John S. "Jack" Benson
William P. Cole
William Engler
Dean C. Erickson
Leland Frost
George Gates
Maurice M. Goodall
Veterans born from 1901 – 1915
Edwin V.C. Hill
Ole Kerns
Howard H. Kinne
Elmer Lewis
M. Daly Loesch
Frank Mason
Leo E. McDade
Ruth Mickens
Elmer C. Nygaard
Raymond A. Park
Milo Peterman
George Privett
Eunice D. Ralls
Gordon L. Reavely
Stanley W. Reiff
John H. Roberts
William L. Robertson
Robert L. Schake
Ervan L. Shambow
Joe N. Sutherland
Claude Taylor
J. Woodrow Warden
George J. Wickham
World War II & Korea
Jack Fred Leicht
Edwin H. McElroy
Charles H. Treece
Leslie E. White
Earl D. Lyons
Loren "Frank" Miller
Charles E. Slocum
Louis L. Byron
Bob Frinzely
World War II, Korea, & Vietnam
Philip Dean
William "Hoppy" Hopman
John Vandendries
Calvin Hodgson
Ernest Kenneth Stafford
Veterans born from 1916 – 1925
Norman E. Allison
Robert L. Bancroft
Walter W. Barr
David C. Breen
Teddy Lee Chaffin
Theodore "Ted" Coller
Harry Connolly
Wesley Meade Cook
Carl T. Doty
Edward Lee Dye
Pius R. Gribnau
W.J. "Bill" Gugler
Daniel J. Lachance
Robert J. Miller
Tom Murphy
Otis Eugene Park
Leroy M. Raines
Kenneth W. Roy
Hayward A. Shook
Gene Sperry
Robert A. Stack
Robert "Bob" Talbot
Julia Trollope
Nickolas Waliser
Clyde Wood
James E. York
Wilhelm Zerbst
Korean War 1950 -1953
Edmund H. Auch
Dick Bayles
Walter N. Bernard
Dale Edgar Blodgett
Donald E. Bramblett
Walter E. Brown, Jr.
George L. Dye
Gerald Dye
Oscar Engbrecht
Benjamin Engel, Jr
Richard G. Evans
Alphonse John Folz
Robert Frost
Arthur L. Hendrickson
Leroy Hopper
Lester Jones
Dee Jones
Jerome G. Leroux
Harley D. Paddock
Earl Perry
John R. Prowse
Pete P. Roth
Donald W. Smith
Russell Thomas
Raymond M. Tintzman
Elmore H. Tintzman
Calvin I Woodward
Korean War & Vietnam
Keith Le Roy Babcock
Kenneth L. Bramblett
James Cooley
Veterans born from 1926 to 1935
James Barntish
Robert Downey
George L. Dye
Harry H. Edwards, Jr.
Veterans born from 1926 to 1935
John W. Fleener
Willis Lee Frohberg
Richard B. Goodman
Don Hallock
Carol Head
David Hiestand
Thomas Jenkins
James D. Laws
Charles O. Lockhart
Donald W. Robbins
John James Sheets
Dave Sickels
Duane L. Swallow
Hodet Duane Thomas
Donald L. Tudahl
James F. Whitehead
Ralph B. Williams
Vietnam War 1956 – 1975
Jesse Chavez
Wayne E. Cool
Richard J. Gregoire
Darvin G. Rall
Jonathan G. Sutherland
Loren "Skipp" Swisher
Sao Song Thao
Donald Tintzman
Stephen Barringer
William "Bill" Frinzely
Richard Glyn Holmes
Myron D. Johnson
Glenn Kirby
Gerald Oliver Long
Larry R. Niezgodzki
Chong Su Vang
Killed in Action in the Vietnam War
Doyle D. Dunbar
Veterans born from 1936 to 1955
Wesley E. Ayers
Don Steven Boulter
Vicki Lee (Teller) Brown
Gordon W. Buckallew
Delbert M. Cady
John Leonard Cantrell
Roger Copeland
Jerry Covert
Robert W. Dearborn
Frank W. Ferguson
Stephen L. Firkins
Thomas Milton Gallup
Barry James Gilmore
James Hale
Darrell W. Huff
Daniel L. Leong
Frederic Litvin
Larry Lockhart
David G. Luedecke
Richard Mirabella
William Mistove
Paul Nordstrom
Anthony B. Rodriquez
Kenneth B. Rood
Karl Ray Sheets
Richard Stimpsom
Steve L. Sutherland
Donald Sylvester
David Allen Trihey
Gordon Claude Wirtz
The Cold War, 1945 – 1991
Wayne M. Chaffin
William Mote
Douglas Nielsen
Ladd Sutherland
Jeffery Dean Witt
Donald G. Ferguson
Veterans born from 1956 – 1980
John Edward Byron
Curtis Everett Felix
Jacquline (Dean) Opris
David Royal Emmanuel West
Veterans from Unknown Dates
Russell E. Axtell
Randolph M. Briggs
Dean Irwin
Charles Neal
Todd Nielson
Jesse Omar
Jim Patterson
John F. Riley
Roy VanEssen
Junior Past Commander
Past Commanders of Corvallis Post #91, The American Legion, Department of Montana
Robert Earl "Bob" Buecheler
Ernest Levandoske
Robert Metcalf
J. Clyde Rummel
LeRoy G. Bieber
Dudley F. "Bud" Bowden
Gilbert E. Chaffin
Glenn M. Chaffin
Earl L. Hall
John W. "Buzz" Hay
Maurice J. Holloron
Isiah Parson Pile
Ferdinand W. Schram
Willard Hall
E. Vance Bay
Richard G. Bryson
Chester Clements
Everett W. Curdy
Tom Lee Dunbar
Edgar "Ed" G. Hopkins
Robert E. Johnson
Donald R. Lamoreux
Jack O. Morris
Terry Nobles
John K. "Jack" Pendergraft
Leighton A. Teller
Post Historian
According to the records of Corvallis Post #91, The American Legion, Department of Montana, which we believe to be accurate, this has been a complete reading of the 488 veterans who have served our country and have been laid to rest here.
Would anyone noting either an error or omission, please inform me immediately after this ceremony.
There may have been some who did not find their way back to this field of rest.
To them we dedicate this short verse, written by Ted D. Merwin, entitled:
“Lest Their Sacrifices Be In Vain”
Pray for us,
for we have lost out way.
Never forsake hope for us,
The MIA.
To this soil we have not yet returned,
For our fate has not yet been learned.
Never forget us,
Our voices cry out,
From parts of this world you may not know about.
Comfort our families,
For they need your help,
Solving the mysteries of our fate,
Our whereabouts…
Here are the numbers of United States of America’s Missing in Action from the Defense POW / MIA Accounting Agency:
WWI – 4,452 Missing in Action
WWII – 73,515 Missing in Action as of Jan 28, 2015
Cold War – 126 Missing in Action as of Feb 19, 2015
Korean War – 7,856 Missing in Action as of Mar 11, 2015
Vietnam War – 1,596 Missing in Action as of Apr 13, 2015
After 9/11 – 5 Missing in Action
For a total of 87,550 Missing in Action down 18 personnel from last year
(Rifle Salute and Taps)
Chaplain:
“Eternal God,
we thank Thee for this hallowed soil.
Make us worthy;
we pray Thee to guard our heritage of pride through all the years to come.
In memory of these, our dead,
may we pledge to our beloved land the same service and the same devotion.
And, O Lord, secure to us evermore the peace for which our comrades died. Amen.”
