Memorial Day 2005
Chuck and Martha Cervenka


It was a quiet time. The people who had paid tribute at the Memorial Day Program were gone for the day and just a few minutes ago the chimes let us know it was one o'clock. We finished our planting and were at the gatehouse to wash our hands when we noticed a car parked a little way from the entrance. On the bumper sticker was s sticker showing two castles and the name "Sumperk", a town in the Czech Republic known for its textiles.

As we checked out the scene, a sailor in his dress whites got out of the car and walked to the World War monument. He looked up and then slowly ascended the stairs and walked around the monument, pausing at each panel to read the inscriptions. After he descended, he turned to face the monument and flags and saluted. The flowers were a vivid scarlet in the sun, the flags were moving in the breeze and it was an impressive sight.

We watched as he drove to the Columbarium and walked in. It was then that we decided to walk over and talk to him when he came out. We introduced ourselves to the sailor and said we were very pleased to see him give the salute. We then commented on the material in his uniform, as it looked nicer that the cotton uniform of old. This one had some polyester in it and kept the creases well. He said he had served in the Middle East and was scheduled to go out again.

He had helped place flags at the cemetery across the street and was spending the day paying tribute to veterans in other cemeteries. We pointed out the Civil War monument and gave him information about those veterans and also directed him to the Spanish American War Memorial. We told him volunteers had placed flags on the graves of about 1600 veterans here at Bohemian National.

We asked about the bumper sticker and he said it represented his wife's hometown, they met four years ago and they were the best of his life. She is even teaching him Czech and though he thought it was a difficult language to learn, he had a good accent. As we left each other, his parting words were, "Diky, na shledanou, Ahoj." Ours were "Good-bye and Good Luck."