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Vail area veterans honored at Memorial Day celebration in Edwards

Crowds honored those who served and vowed to never forget those who died at the 2023 Eagle County Memorial Day Ceremony Monday in Edwards.
Madison Rahhal/Courtesy image

The 2023 Eagle County Memorial Day Ceremony drew a sizable crowd Monday to the Freedom Park Memorial in Edwards.

The event was hosted by the Freedom Park Memorial Committee and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 10721, and honored those who sacrificed their lives serving the United States in wars at home and abroad.

Local veterans Al Zepeda, U.S. Navy; Garrett Fonda, U.S. Army; Bill Welch, U.S. Army; James van Beek, U.S. Army; and Laura Johnson, U.S. Air Force read the names of the many locals who died in World War I, World War II, the Korean war, the Vietnam war, the war on terror, and Eagle County emergency responders who died in the line of duty.



U.S. Navy veteran Al Zepeda honors a local who died serving the United States at the 2023 Eagle County Memorial Day Ceremony in Edwards.
Madison Rahhal/Special to the Daily

Other speakers discussed their families’ wartime histories, with local Air Force veteran Claire Noble reciting the long line of veterans that comprise her family going back to her 10th great-grandfather, who served in the Connecticut militia during the American Revolutionary War “when he was 77 years old,” Noble said.

Speaker Kathy Chandler-Henry said her great-grandfather fought for the Union in the Civil War, her father was a Korean War veteran, and her father-in-law was a fighter pilot in Vietnam.

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“However, it’s always my Uncle Harold I think of on Memorial Day,” Chandler-Henry said.

Claire Noble honors local veterans Monday at the 2023 Eagle County Memorial Day Ceremony in Edwards.
Madison Rahhal/Special to the Daily

Chandler-Henry said her Uncle Harold was the oldest son in her mom’s family, and he kept the family ranch running when their father died at a young age. When the U.S. got into World War II, he enlisted, and never returned, Chandler-Henry said.

“He was declared missing in action in the South Pacific when the plane carrying his unit was shot down,” she said.

Chandler Henry said countless people in the U.S. have experienced similar loss in their families and communities, which is why cities and towns across the country unite on Memorial Day in events like the 2023 Eagle County ceremony in Freedom Park.

“Together we come today to remember to honor and to express our profound gratitude,” she said. “We owe you a debt that can never truly be repaid.”

Both Noble and Chandler-Henry mentioned the Freedom Park site itself.

“Here in Eagle County we have a special connection to our veterans through this wonderful memorial here in Freedom Park that so many of you helped create,” Chandler-Henry said.

Michelle Cohn Levy signs the National Anthem at the 2023 Eagle County Memorial Day Ceremony in Edwards.
Madison Rahhal/Special to the Daily

The Freedom Park Memorial contains a piece of limestone from the Pentagon after American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the building on Sept. 11, 2001, causing a partial collapse of the building’s west side.

The limestone is on display “in honor of the victims of the deadliest terror attack in U.S. history,” Noble said, acknowledging locals Buddy and Bonnie Sims, who helped get the limestone to Edwards.

“We’re also connected through our first and only national monument at Camp Hale,” Chandler-Henry said. “Dedicated just last fall by President Biden, Camp Hale honors the 10th Mountain Division soldiers who served heroically in WWII and who set the stage for the incredible ski industry that we get to enjoy right here in our backyard.”

The Battle Mountain High School drum corps at the 2023 Eagle County Memorial Day Ceremony in Edwards.
Madison Rahhal/Special to the Daily

Rabbi Joel Newman said on Memorial Day, citizens should honor those who served and vow to never forget those who gave their lives.

“We honor those who live and serve today within a world that knows too well the time of war,” he said. “And we pray to do our part to bring about a time of peace for which they fought.”

Both Newman and Noble harkened back to Memorial Day’s origins, mentioning the American Civil War and President Abraham Lincoln.

“When he spoke at the ceremony at Gettysburg in 1863, President Lincoln reminded us that through their deeds, the dead had spoken,” Newman said.

Lincoln’s words at Gettysburg are as relevant today as they were in 1863, Noble said.

“We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, and that government of the people, for the people and by the people shall not perish from this earth,” Noble said.


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