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Beyond the military record: What war left behind for one family
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Rocky Mountain Voice, State, Top Stories

Beyond the military record: What war left behind for one family

By Jen Schumann | Rocky Mountain Voice A faded military form cannot explain what war does to a family. The DD214 for Willie Jerome Evans Sr. records medals, overseas assignments and an honorable discharge from the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. It does not record the anger that settled over his family, the silence between father and son or the moment decades later when that same son held his father’s hand in a Colorado hospital room and whispered forgiveness. Willie Jerome Evans Sr. at his 1962 high school graduation in North Carolina. Family photos and documents courtesy of Kalvin Evans For years, Kalvin Evans knew only fragments of his father’s military story. The hardest parts of Willie’s military experience did not come directly from him. In an interview with RM...
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Memorial Day Calls Americans To Remember The Fallen And Live With Purpose
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Approved, Commentary, National, Substack

Memorial Day Calls Americans To Remember The Fallen And Live With Purpose

By Mike Glover | Commentary, Substack Memorial Day means something different once you’ve buried friends. For a lot of Americans, it has become another long weekend. A kickoff to summer. Barbecues, travel plans, sales, days at the lake. And there’s nothing wrong with families spending time together. In fact, that freedom is exactly what generations of American warriors fought to preserve. But Memorial Day was never intended to be casual. It is a day rooted in sacrifice. Not service in general. Not patriotism in the abstract. Not politics. Sacrifice. It is the remembrance of men who never came home. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized that one of the greatest responsibilities we carry as the living is the responsibility to remember and share the stories of those ...
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Flyover grounded, but Fort Morgan keeps faith with the fallen
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Approved, Local, Rocky Mountain Voice, Top Stories

Flyover grounded, but Fort Morgan keeps faith with the fallen

Harvey Baker, Citizen Journalist | RMV NE CO Newsroom, Rocky Mountain Voice Cloudy skies didn’t stop more than 400 people from gathering at Riverside Cemetery on Saturday for Fort Morgan’s Memorial Day ceremony. Organized by American Legion Post 19 and joined by the 140th Fighter Squadron from Buckley Space Force Base, the event honored fallen service members. American and service flags lined the grounds, shifting softly in the breeze. Many headstones were decorated with small flags – placed by family members and volunteers as quiet tributes. As folks began to arrive, flags representing each service branch lined the cemetery, swaying in the breeze. Dozens of graves had been marked with small flags – placed earlier by volunteers and family members – a quiet but moving tribute. T...
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Fighting for a country that doubted them—but never broke them
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Approved, denvergazette.com, Local, National

Fighting for a country that doubted them—but never broke them

By Vince Bzdek | Denver Gazette In his 99 years on the planet, Ken Akune has been sorted into many bins. The first was Nisei, the term for second-generation Japanese Americans born in the United States. Akune had lived in both the United States and Japan and his family was divided between the two. The second bin was “evacuee.” That was the term given to 18-year-old Akune, his brother Harry and 7,000 other Japanese Americans shipped out to the Granada Relocation Center in Colorado at the start of World War II because of worries about their loyalty. Franklin Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066 forcibly removed them from their home on the West Coast to a remote plain of sage and dust in southeastern Colorado, known simply as Amache. “I was mad, jealous, whatever you want to call i...
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‘A place where silence speaks volumes’: Fort Logan among top Memorial Day sites honoring the fallen
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Approved, kdvr.com, Local, National

‘A place where silence speaks volumes’: Fort Logan among top Memorial Day sites honoring the fallen

By Spencer Kristensen | Fox31 DENVER (KDVR) — It’s Memorial Day Weekend, and all across the United States, citizens will travel to National Cemeteries to pay tribute to the lives of friends, family, community members or even complete strangers who made the ultimate sacrifice while serving in the U.S. military. Crowds of people will gather in the burial grounds, but not a peep will be heard as a moment of silence is held for the fallen. Ahead of Memorial Day, Choice Mutual, an insurance company, surveyed over 3,000 U.S. citizens on which cemetery they would most like to visit. Fort Logan in Denver was one of the most mentioned in the survey, and landed in the No. 20 spot. The top 10 most popular mentions included: Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia Gettysburg Nation...
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Hardin: Run for the Wall shows why patriotism still rides strong
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Approved, Commentary, National, Rocky Mountain Voice, Top Stories

Hardin: Run for the Wall shows why patriotism still rides strong

By Amanda Hardin | Commentary, Rocky Mountain Voice Every May, the sound of motorcycles echoes across America—not for show, but for something much more meaningful. Run For The Wall is a cross-country ride that honors the fallen and brings healing to those still carrying the weight of war. It begins in California and ends in Washington, D.C.  This year I had the privilege of joining the ride for part of its journey, riding the Central Route from Gallup, New Mexico, to Colorado. We rolled out of Gallup with nearly 500 motorcycles, riding two-by-two in a tight, powerful formation. New Mexico State Police escorted us across the entire state, blocking every exit, every intersection.  There was no stop-and-go. No honking horns. Just a smooth, protected path across miles of ...
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Memorial Day at Fort Carson reminds us what freedom truly costs
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Approved, denvergazette.com, Local

Memorial Day at Fort Carson reminds us what freedom truly costs

By Mary Shinn | Denver Gazette "I go, not to win the war, but to come home to my wife and children." The first Fort Carson soldier to die in Iraq, Pfc. Jesse Givens, wrote those highly relatable words in his journal. And while his time in the Army was short, his sentiments resonate today, said Fort Carson's Maj. Gen. David Doyle during a Thursday morning ceremony ahead of Memorial Day.  "I took an oath to protect my country, not for the sake of saving the world, but for the hopes that my family wouldn't have to live in a world filled with hate, fear or sadness, a world in which America can triumph," Doyle said, quoting Givens' journal.  Givens died when his tank plunged into the Euphrates River, the general said. The soldier who had served for 15 months was recov...
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Memorial Day set for lowest gas prices in over 20 years
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Approved, Breitbart, National

Memorial Day set for lowest gas prices in over 20 years

By John Carney | Breitbart Americans celebrating Memorial Day by hitting the road will likely be paying the cheapest gas prices since 2003. GasBuddy, a fuel savings platform, said Tuesday that it forecasts the national average price of gasoline to be $3.08 per gallon on Memorial Day. That would make it the cheapest since 2021 in nominal terms. After adjusting for inflation, it would be the lowest since 2003. This is not expected to be short-lived. Prices of gasoline are expected to average around $3.02 per gallon between Memorial Day and Labor Day, with prices falling below three dollars on some days. That’s likely to bring cheer to the 69 percent of Americans who plan on taking a road trip this summer. “American road trip culture remains resilient,” GasBuddy said in a news...
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Remembering those ‘that gave all’: Colorado Freedom Memorial in Aurora honors fallen servicemen
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Approved, denvergazette.com, Local

Remembering those ‘that gave all’: Colorado Freedom Memorial in Aurora honors fallen servicemen

By Sage Kelley | The Denver Gazette A 1,000-pound bronze bell, forged in honor of Colorado's fallen, tolled several times during the Colorado Freedom Memorial on Saturday morning. The Colorado Freedom Memorial Foundation, along with the City of Aurora, held its 11th annual Colorado Remembers ceremony on Saturday, celebrating Memorial Day and those who gave everything for the country.  Cannon fire from the Colorado Army National Guard followed the ringing bell, bringing about silence throughout the park as over 100 attendees honored the nation's fallen servicemen and servicewomen. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE DENVER GAZETTE
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Colorado vets go through hundreds of unclaimed cremated remains to give comrades dignified memorial
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Approved, State, The Colorado Sun

Colorado vets go through hundreds of unclaimed cremated remains to give comrades dignified memorial

By Kevin Simpson | The Colorado Sun A motorcycle escort rumbled slowly along the pavement that cuts through meandering rows of identical white headstones at Denver’s Fort Logan National Cemetery, making its way toward a pavilion where dozens of military veterans converged under a brilliant late April sky for a long-overdue rite. While bagpipes played, 13 men in crisp white dress shirts beneath black vests bearing patches signifying their military affiliations each accepted a wooden box unloaded from the back of a hearse. Solemnly cradling them in white gloves, some with trembling hands, they delivered sets of cremated remains to a table. Once the boxes had been laid in a row, a folded American flag next to each, uniformed onlookers snapped a salute. The bagpipes quieted and speake...
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