Kempner Veterans Day event reminds audience of sacrifices of war, need for unity

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  • Lt. Col. Robert Phillipson, left, Kempner Mayor Dr. Keith Harvey, center, and Command Sgt. Maj. Charles Chapelle stand at the veterans’ monument at Sylvia Tucker Memorial Park. JEFF LOWE | DISPATCH RECORD
    Lt. Col. Robert Phillipson, left, Kempner Mayor Dr. Keith Harvey, center, and Command Sgt. Maj. Charles Chapelle stand at the veterans’ monument at Sylvia Tucker Memorial Park. JEFF LOWE | DISPATCH RECORD
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Sylvia Tucker Memorial Park in Kempner hosted the city’s annual Veterans Day ceremony on Wednesday morning.

Mayor Dr. Keith Harvey welcomed those in attendance.

“We come together to express our profound gratitude” to the members of the United States Armed Forces, Harvey said.

As Harvey noted, Veterans Day often follows a hardfought political season that reveals disagreements between people. But the American instinct “is to find strength in our common creed,” and to “search for ways to come together,” he said.

“Some of our best examples” of that unity “are the men and women we salute on Veterans Day,” the mayor added.

The Rev. Kenneth Foster Sellers Jr. of Kempner United Methodist Church offered the opening prayer.

Members of the 62nd Engineer Battalion posted the colors, and Mayor Pro Tem Mack K. Ruszkiewicz led the Pledge of Allegiance.

Betsy Sharrock sang “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Harvey then introduced keynote speaker Lt. Col. Robert R. Phillipson, commander of the 36th Engineer Brigade at Fort Hood.

Phillipson entered active service as an infantryman in 1995. His assignments have included the 82nd Airborne Division and the United States Army School of the Americas.

In 2001, he was commissioned as an engineer officer. He is a graduate of the University of New Mexico and the Missouri University of Science and Technology, where he earned his master’s degree.

Phillipson’s previous assignments include platoon leader, company commander and company executive officer. His operations deployments include Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Spartan Shield (support to Operation Inherent Resolve).

In his remarks, Phillipson referred to the origins of Veterans Day, which began by observing the armistice that ended World War I.

As “The Great War” ended, “the sheer amount of loss affected the psyche of nations,” Phillipson said.

Phillipson commended service members who “chose danger over safety” and “service over profit,” and “who believe in preserving our constitutional way of life.”

“The soldier, above all others, prays for peace,” he told the audience.

Although 102 years ago, WWI was called “The War to End All Wars,” Phillipson said “only the dead have seen the end of war.”

He assured those in attendance: “Trust that your military is in good hands.”

Jennifer Fitzgerald played “Taps,” and soldiers gave a rifle volley.

After the retiring of the colors, Councilman Norm Parker offered a closing benediction.

Parker acknowledged his brother, who served on the USS Hadley – a ship bombed by the Japanese in World War II. He also prayed that God would heal service members of the lingering effects of war, including Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.