To spotlight and honor the sacrifices of military service members, Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1913 hosted Memorial Day services at Riverside Cemetery and Kentucky Veterans Cemetery West on Monday.
At the service hosted at Riverside Cemetery, Christian County Circuit Judge John Atkins was the keynote speaker and shared the significance of the day and highlighted people in his life who served in the military.
Atkins says his father, Frank Atkins, was a Navy veteran who served in World War II. Atkins says his father rarely talked about his service and believes he did so out of respect for the service members who died in the war.
Atkins says his uncles also served in WWII and shared they were proud to serve for their country, but rarely talked about their time in the military. During the Vietnam War, Atkins says he came across some of his old high school peers who were on their way to Nashville for military induction examinations.
One of his peers brought X-ray films that were not his and showed back injuries in order to dodge deployment and was successful. Atkins says his other peer was deployed to Vietnam where he died in service.
From that moment, Atkins says a person knowing their duty and doing it is the ultimate challenge that everyone faces. That sense of duty does not just pertain to warfare but to people serving their community and putting others before themselves.
Atkins concluded the service by reading the poem, “In Flanders Field” by John McCrae. The poem spotlights those who died in war while fighting for their country.
Later in the morning, the VFW hosted a service at Kentucky Veterans Cemetery West, and Fort Campbell General Travis McIntosh was the guest speaker.
