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Clint Wallace, a Marine Corps veteran from Middletown, spent time at Woodside Cemetery on Sunday to show his respect to those who “didn’t make it” home fighting in war.
“It’s the respect of these guys that died so young,” he said.
It’s difficult for Wallace to imagine the ages of many of those who died in combat, and said one can “get very sentimental” to see many of them were 18, 19 or 20 years old when they “paid the ultimate sacrifice.”
Beth Bishop, an Army and Air Force veteran in Middletown, spent the day with Wallace, visiting her uncle, Eddie Gehm (Army Air Corps) and grandfather Edmund Gehm, Sr. (World War II veteran) at Woodside Cemetery, and her mother, Emily Gehm (Korea War veteran), at the Butler County Memorial Park in Wayne Twp.
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“These people gave a lot,” said Bishop, who held back tears looking at graves of military men and women. “That’s what Memorial Day is about. These people. It’s very important to acknowledge that. It’s very important, even though it’s hard. It’s hard to go but it’s a necessity.”
Bishop would encourage anyone to sign up and serve the country to honor those who served and died for the country because, “Freedom isn’t free. It’s far from free.”
Gail Napier came from Centerville on Sunday to visit her brother, Billy J. Mize (Marine Corps) and father William Jasper Mize (World War II veteran).
Napier, formerly of Middletown, called the time “sad.” Her brother and dad didn’t die while serving, but she recalls how “honored” her brother was when he was able to join the Marine Corps in the 1980s, as well as how her father liked to tell military stories.
“That was all my dad ever talked about was being in the war,” she said.
Napier said her father visited Woodside frequently before he died in 2002 because he was “honored just to be a part of the service.”
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