BRATTLEBORO-It’s estimated that 558 million Americans have lived in this country since its founding 250 years ago.
According to Catherine Tester, past Department of Vermont Commander of the American Legion, more than 1.1 million Americans have died defending the nation in wars and combat actions since 1776.
“They each have their stories to tell,” said Tester, an Orwell resident who served in the Marine Corps and Marine Corps Reserve from 1980 to 1995. “The crosses at Normandy, the graves at Arlington, the markers at Punchbowl [national cemetery in Hawaii], the fallen heroes who rest in places unknown, and the countless local cemeteries around this country like ones we visited this morning in Brattleboro. We are here for them.”
Tester was the featured speaker at Brattleboro’s annual Memorial Day service at American Legion Post 5 on May 25. The service moved from its traditional spot on the common, next to the town’s war memorials, due to rain.
She spoke of the need to remember the fallen, and families and friends they left behind.
“We do not forget,” Tester said.
“How can we not be lifted by the breathtaking sacrifices made, and continue to be made, on our behalf,” she continued. “We’re here for 2,341 service members who lost their lives in the attack on Pearl Harbor, 85 years ago. We’re here for the 3,100 combat deaths and the thousands more who succumbed to elements at Korea’s ‘Frozen Chosin’ reservoir in 1950. We’re here for the men and women who lost their lives, and continue to lose their lives, in operations in the Middle East.
“From Bunker Hill to Baghdad, Americans from communities from throughout the United States have answered their nation’s call and made the ultimate sacrifice,” Tester said this ethos of service and sacrifice is shared by millions of Americans who served in all the nation’s wars.
“We take this day to reflect on ordinary Americans exhibiting extraordinary valor,” she said. “To honor the legacy of the fallen, we should all commit to the freedoms offered by the greatest nation on Earth, a land where patriotism eclipses politics, where the American flag is displayed proudly and frequently, and where military veterans are society’s true celebrities.
“Long after the battlefield guns are silenced and the bombs stop exploding, the children of our fallen warriors will be still be missing a parent,” Tester continued. “Spouses will without their life partners. Parents will continue to grieve for their heroic sons and daughters that died way too early.”
Tester said that our society “needs to be present for them, not just members of the American Legion family, but as American citizens.”
“No one can replace those fallen heroes, especially in the eyes of the families, but we can offer shoulders to cry on, assistance with educational expenses, and assurances that their loved one’s sacrifice would not be forgot,” she said.
Memorial Day, Tester said, is a day “to remember the price paid for us to enjoy our American way of life,” and that remembering and honoring the legacies of those who did not make it back “is the true meaning of Memorial Day.”
“Let us remember that totalitarian regimes have been toppled and genocides stopped because Americans sacrificed life and limb,” she said. “Let us remember that terrorist plots were foiled and killers brought to justice because Americans were willing to pay a high price. Let us remember that without America’s military, the world would be much more oppressive and darker place.”
A lifetime of service
Tester joined the Marine Corps when she was 17, and most of her Marine career served as an administrator in Washington, D.C., at Camp H.M. Smith in Hawaii, and at the former Marine Corps Air Station Tustin in California before finishing her service as a gunnery sergeant in a reserve unit in San Jose, California.
She came to Vermont in 2004 and joined American Legion Post 50 in Castleton as a way to get involved in the community. She was elected as Department of Vermont Commander in 2021 and served a one-year term, the fourth woman to hold that position in Vermont.
Her husband, John, was the first male veteran in Vermont to join the American Legion Auxiliary. Two of her six children also served in the military.
Her family operates JDW Mechanical, a plumbing and electrical contractor in Orwell.
Helping out Post 5
Post 5 Past Commander Tom Costello, a Marine officer and combat veteran during the Vietnam War, had much praise for Tester for being instrumental in helping the local post get out of some organizational and financial difficulties three years ago.
Part of that help was getting a $50,000 line of credit from Brattleboro Savings & Loan (BS&L). Now, Costello said, Post 5 is seeking to pay off that debt through a “Burn the Mortgage” fundraiser that seeks to raise $50,000 by the end of this year.
BS&L is administering the campaign. Tax-deductible donations may be sent to BS & L in care of Dawn Jackson, Post 5 “Burn the Mortgage” Fund, P.O. Box 1010, Brattleboro, VT 05302.
“All of us have memories of those no longer here,” said Costello. “The families who came together put us in this place where we can honor those who have served.”
This News item by Randolph T. Holhut was written for The Commons.