Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur, who represents Ohio’s 9th congressional district, will be a guest speaker at this year’s Memorial Day ceremonies on May 26 in Oregon and Clay Township.
Clay Township
The first event, hosted by the Genoa American Legion Post 324, is slated for 9 a.m. and should last approximately one hour according to legion commander, Tom Cashen.
“We’re very excited to have Congresswoman Kaptur come out to observe Memorial Day with us,” Cashen said. “That was kind of a hard thing to get. She has commitments and things like that, but we were able to get her to commit a couple weeks ago, which was nice.”
Ron Distel, the chaplain for the American Legion Department of Ohio, will also speak. Cashen said he is very active with the American Legion, the VFW, and he’s a veteran service commissioner.
The bands from the Genoa American Legion and Genoa High School will both perform, and the event is sponsored by the American Legion 324 and the American Legion Auxiliary Post 324.
The Gibsonburg cannoneers will perform artillery, and some local high school students will sing the national anthem.
Members of the American Legion Post 324 will give a speech, and there will be a raising of the colors, which will include a war poem titled, In Flanders Fields, which was written during World War I. It was published on Dec. 8, 1915.
Cashen said they will post all of the service flags, including the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Merchant Marine and Space Force.
Anchors Aweigh, the fight song for the U.S. Naval Academy, will be played by the American Legion band.
Cashen said they will post grave marker flags at the sites of deceased veterans at the cemetery, as well.
Oregon
A couple hours after the Clay Township ceremony begins, a similar event will be held at 11 a.m. in the memorial garden of Clay High’s Memorial Stadium at 5665 Seaman Road in Oregon.
The approximately one-hour event will take place rain or shine, and should it rain, it will be held in the adjacent indoor venue right across from Memorial Stadium.
A coalition of civic leaders, veterans, and volunteers from the Oregon, Jerusalem Township, and Harbor View area annually conduct the service at the site of the war memorials honoring those who have given their life in military service to the country.
According to Jerry Eversman, who is the event’s organizer, this year’s ceremony will have World War II Army veteran, Private First Class James Zettner, who attended Clay High School beginning in 1941, as the guest of honor.
Zettner, known by his friends as “Zeke,” is now 98-years-old. He will be placing a Memorial Day wreath at the World War II memorial and two staff sergeants from the U.S. Army will accompany Mr. Zettner.
Zettner served in an anti-aircraft artillery unit in France, Belgium, and Germany at the end of the war, guarding railroad lines for Allied operations. He is the last living charter member of VFW Post #9816 Lake Shore Memorial in Oregon.
Kaptur, who authored the bill to create the national World War II memorial in Washington D.C. in 1987, will also deliver the keynote address.
The origination of the national memorial occurred at an event in Jerusalem Township when Kaptur was approached by veteran, Roger Durbin, who asked why there was no World War II memorial. Seventeen years later, through hard work getting the bill written and passed along with the work done to design and construct the memorial, it officially debuted in D.C.
John “Jack” Mangas, a 97-year-old Korean War veteran who served at the rank of sergeant in an infantry company and in the motor pool, has been selected to place the Korean War Memorial wreath.
The greater Oregon community is known to have lost one soldier, PFC Robert Lee Beale, during the Korean War. He attended Clay High School and his youngest sister, Judy Dudrow, will also be presenting a wreath in memory of her brother and those who lost their lives.
“The greater Oregon community supports this service more and more each year,” Eversman said. “We have active-duty service men and women along with many veterans and their families in attendance (annually). Students from Clay High School help our veterans and community members make this event a special tribute each year.”
Eversman said that in some years, they have had an aerial flyover of aircraft from the Ohio National Guard 180th Fighter Wing based at the Toledo Express Airport.
Supporting the Memorial Day ceremony will be the Vietnam Veterans of America, Chapter 35, who have led the military veterans in tribute at the memorial garden of Clay’s Memorial Stadium dating back to 2008.
A reading of the names of area service men linked to Clay High School and Oregon is done each year followed by a tolling of the Clay High memorial bell. An honor guard will fire a 21-rifle volley salute and the playing of Taps occurs each year. Wreaths are also placed at the Vietnam War Memorial and at Defense of Freedom memorials.
Waite hosts 110th annual Memorial Day ceremony
On Thursday, May 22, officials from Morrison R. Waite High School will host the 110th annual Memorial Day program, titled “Service.”
The event, which is slated to begin at noon, has always been an important event at Waite, per principal Todd D. Deem and Memorial Day coordinator, Kyle Briggs.
“It is our sincere hope that you will be able to join us to honor our veterans and to celebrate the freedoms that their sacrifices have preserved,” Briggs said in a release.
If you have any questions, you can call Waite officials at 419-671-7000 or send an email to kbriggs@tps.org.
