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Soldiers Honored In Memorial Day Events

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By SUSAN GREEN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 26, 2008

TAMPA - Somber moments and rifle salutes are fine to commemorate the nation's war dead, but year-round community service and turnout at the voting booth would be even better, an audience at Rest Haven Memorial Park was told this morning.

"We honor them one day out of the year, our fallen soldiers," said Jamal Ghani, a Marine Corps veteran who was injured in the Vietnam War. "But they gave us something that's priceless: our freedom.

"My question to you is what are you doing with your freedom? … You want to know how you honor these fallen soldiers? By taking the time to go into town because you can, and sit in a [city] council meeting. By taking the time to pen a letter to your congressman because you can."

Ghani, now pastor at College Hill Church of God and Christ, recounted how he, a black man from Alabama, held a "Caucasian bubba out of California" as the fellow Marine lay dying from a head wound in Vietnam in 1968. Under fire, Ghani was shot in the back as he tried to comfort his friend.

"I'll never forget what he said: 'I love you, brother,'" Ghani recalled. "And he died."

About 40 people, many in uniform, took time out from picnics and holiday events to honor the fallen at Rest Haven's ninth annual Memorial Day ceremony. Members of the Buffalo Soldiers, a group that honors black veterans as far back as the Civil War, were among those attending.

Many of those in the crowd had volunteered time Saturday and Sunday to plant small American flags at more than 1,600 known graves of veterans, said Melvin Collins Jr., commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1339.

He said he has relatives in the cemetery that were veterans and first organized the event with the help of cemetery owner Jim McKeehan.

McKeehan said there are probably far more than 1,600 veterans buried at the 26-acre, predominantly black cemetery that dates to 1927 and holds more than 15,000 graves.

He said he has a stack of at least 150 military markers that arrived courtesy of the U.S. government but were never installed. He said family members often don't realize that placement is their responsibility, but it's a fairly simple and inexpensive task.

Ghani encouraged listeners to treat veterans with respect, regardless of the popularity of the war they served in.

"When I came back [from Vietnam], it was like the country didn't care where I had been," Ghani said. "Many young men coming back now feel the same way."

"No matter what we think of the war or how we got there, people are losing their lives. … American families all over this country have given their sons, and they gave their lives for the cause of freedom."

Reporter Susan M. Green can be reached at (813) 865-1566 or sgreen@tampatrib.com.

If you think you have a relative whose marker is at Rest Haven but not installed, call (813) 626-2332 to make arrangements.

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