CEREMONIES HONOR NATION'S WAR DEAD; TRIBUTES PAID IN AREA CITIES

Memorial Day gave way to bright skies and hot weather Monday as local residents and veterans saluted the nation's war dead.

Memorial observances were held in Cape Girardeau, Jackson, and Scott City.

The Rev. Rodney H. Travis spoke to about 120 people in Jackson. Although he said he is grateful for the renewed patriotism in the United States, Travis challenged people to remember those U.S. veterans who sacrificed their lives.

The ceremony was sponsored by American Legion Post No. 158 in Jackson.

Travis, pastor of the First Baptist Church in Jackson, said there is a difference between sacrificial death, which leads to freedom, and "wasted death."

"A death that is meaningless is certainly not a sacrificial death," he said as he stood at a podium before the Jackson City Cemetery on South High Street. "Sacrifice has a redemptive purpose."

The Iraqi soldiers Saddam Hussein sent to invade Kuwait before the Persian Gulf War were not sent in for a redemptive purpose, he said.

But Travis said President George Bush's decision to send U.S. forces to defend Kuwait and Saudi Arabia did carry that purpose.

Flanked by U.S. and American Legion flags, Travis appealed to the public to remember the price of freedom.

Each year in May, he said, the state of Israel observes a combination of holidays, similar to a combined Memorial Day and Fourth of July. One day the Israelis mourn the dead and the next they celebrate their independence.

"The purpose is to dramatically remind the people that the price of freedom is the flood of sacrifice. Freedom's price is not cheap," he said.

In his remarks following Travis' address, Jim Nelson, commander of Legion Post No. 158, said a total of 38 million people have served in the U.S. Armed Forces. One million of those have died, he said.

At Cape Girardeau, Ian Sutherland, a retired lieutenant colonel with the Army and a former member of the service's Special Forces, spoke to a gathering at Cape County Park North amidst the avenue of flags.

Sutherland, now a Cape Girardeau County assistant prosecutor, said the veterans "died for me, they died for you, so we could live free."

The Joint Veterans Council of Cape Girardeau County sponsored the ceremony.

In Scott City, the Kelso Memorial Post No. 6407 held a memorial service at the Lightner Cemetery.

Robert J. Quinn, state representative from Missouri's 80th district in St. Louis County, told a group of about 40 people to be patriotic more than just on the Fourth of July and Memorial Day.

"We should put America first at the shopping malls, the supermarkets and other places where we compete every day with other nations," he said.

Quinn said America's veterans aren't honored often enough by the American public. "We don't often enough express our appreciation for what they did," he said.

This is apparent, he said, in the amount of federal and state funds received by veteran's hospitals, which he called inadequate and shameful. "A man or woman who serves our country should never want for anything," he said.

Quinn also urged citizens not to forget the Persian Gulf War "just because it is over."