Courtesy Photo | Fort McCoy Garrison Commander Col. Stephen Messenger gives a speech May 29, 2023,...... read more read more
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Leaders from Fort McCoy Garrison and the 88th Readiness Division supported 2023 Memorial Day events in communities near Fort McCoy.
Fort McCoy Garrison Commander Col. Stephen Messenger spoke as part of the Sparta, Wis., Memorial Day observance on May 29, in Blyton Park in Sparta. Annually, Sparta holds a special ceremony honoring those who paid the ultimate sacrifice for our country during this special ceremony on Memorial Day.
The same observance in Sparta has been attended not just by other installation garrison commanders over the years but also the installation's founder, Maj. Gen. Robert Bruce McCoy. During this event, Messenger also met McCoy's grandson, Alan McCoy, he said.
On the same day, Messenger sent a Memorial Day message through email to the installation workforce. The email message was titled, “Memorial Day Remembrance: Freedom is Not Free.”
“I usually push federal holiday messages out before the weekend but wanted to let Memorial Day sink in my own mind before I thanked everyone,” Messenger stated in his message. “I just got back from the Sparta Parade and Memorial Day ceremony. Here in Wisconsin, along with most places in America, the community unequivocally mobilizes around the military — and they did in Sparta today.
“I met a Gold Star family, the grandson of Robert Bruce McCoy, and countless veterans,” Messenger stated. “They are eternally grateful for your hard work — hundreds of garrison civilians and 16 Soldiers facilitating our Total Force Training Center. What you do every day enables our nation to be ready. And it comes with a cost.
“Over 1.2 million service members have died so that we may have the freedom,” Messenger stated. “It is not a one-time cost — we need to earn this freedom every generation be it on the plains of Afghanistan, the cities (2000s) and deserts of Iraq (1991), Panama, Grenada, Vietnam, Korea, the Cold War, World War II, or countless minor engagements and conflicts. Today, we honor the fallen and support the family members who are left behind.
“At Fort McCoy, you enable our nation’s strength so fewer will have to make the ultimate sacrifice in the future. Freedom is not free. You help reduce the cost with your dedicated work on Fort McCoy,” the message states. “I’m incredibly proud of the work you do — it is worth it. Thank you!”
And in Bangor, Wis., retired Army Col. Kelly McNeese, the 88th Readiness Division chief of staff, served as the guest speaker for the Bangor Memorial Day ceremony and observance on May 29.
McNeese spoke at one of the Bangor schools in a special ceremony that also included veterans with the Bangor American Legion and the Bangor Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 8278 as well as staff and students of Bangor School District and Bangor residents.
Additionally, many Fort McCoy personnel, both current and retired, also supported events in their own communities.
According to https://www.usmemorialday.org, Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in service of the United States.
“It’s difficult to prove the origins of this day as over two dozen towns and cities lay claim to be the birthplace,” the websites states. “In May 1966, President Lyndon Johnson stepped in and officially declared Waterloo, N.Y., the birthplace of Memorial Day. Regardless of the location of origins or the exact date, one thing is crystal clear — Memorial Day was borne out of the Civil War (which ended in 1865) and a desire to honor our dead. On the 5th of May in 1868, Gen. John Logan, who was the national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, officially proclaimed it in his General Order No. 11.
Part of the history, the website states, of Memorial Day meaning will show that in the order, the general proclaimed, “The 30th of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land.”
“Because the day wasn’t the anniversary of any particular battle, the general called it the date of Decoration Day,” the website states.
Fort McCoy’s motto is to be the “Total Force Training Center.” Located in the heart of the upper Midwest, Fort McCoy is the only U.S. Army installation in Wisconsin.
The installation has provided support and facilities for the field and classroom training of more than 100,000 military personnel from all services nearly every year since 1984.
Learn more about Fort McCoy online at https://home.army.mil/mccoy, on the Defense Visual Information Distribution System at https://www.dvidshub.net/fmpao, on Facebook by searching “ftmccoy,” and on Twitter by searching “usagmccoy.”
Also try downloading the Digital Garrison app to your smartphone and set “Fort McCoy” or another installation as your preferred base.
(Article prepared by the Fort McCoy Public Affairs Office.)
| Date Taken: | 06.06.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 06.07.2023 00:05 |
| Story ID: | 446390 |
| Location: | FORT MCCOY, WI, US |
| Web Views: | 221 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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