by Dennis Dalman
On a beautiful Monday morning, May 26, people gathered at 9 a.m. for a solemn Memorial Day ceremony on the big green lawn behind the Sartell Community Center near the edge of Lake Francis.
The event featured a color-guard of the American Legion Post 277 of Sartell and an eight-member rifle squad from American Legion Post 428 of Waite Park. The ceremony was emceed by Minnesota House Rep. Tim O’Driscoll (R-Sartell), who led the audience in singing “God Bless America.” The event featured several speakers, including a “City Greeting” by Sartell Mayor Ryan Fitzthum.
Throughout the program, the Sartell High School Marching Band performed beautiful, dazzling patriotic songs that ranged in mood from heartfelt, like “America the Beautiful” and “God Bless America,” to lively, like “Armed Forces on Parade.” The band began the ceremony with a moving performance of “My Country ‘Tis of Thee.”
Guests and participants sat in lawn chairs on the grass or in three-tiered metal bleachers set up for the event.
After the posting of flags that began the event, Chuck Haselkamp, commander of the American Legion of Sartell, welcomed all of the participants after which the Rev. Steve Pareja of St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church gave the invocation.
In his greeting, Mayor Fitzthum gave praise and thanks to all the brave men and women who served their country, some of whom never returned home, having died in action. They truly deserve thanks for having given so much for this country, Fitzthum emphasized.
Sartell Boys and Girl Scouts then led the audience in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. A bit later, one of the young Girl Scouts recited the famous World War I poem of lamentation “In Flanders Fields,” written by John McCrae. He was a Canadian physician, poet, soldier and WWI surgeon during the second horrific battle of Ypres in Belgium.
The following are the last two stanzas of that poem:
“We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
“Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.”
Sen. Jeff Howe
One of the guest speakers was State Sen Jeff Howe (R-Rockville), who represents District 13, which includes Sartell and St. Stephen.
A veteran himself, Howe served in Iraq. All told, he served for 38 years in the military, first in the U.S. Navy, later in the Minnesota National Guard. He retired in 2017 with the rank of lieutenant-colonel.
Howe praised the intricate teamwork of soldiers planning together, working together, fighting together. A great example of that, he said, was a good friend, teammate and soldier and born team-leader named Manny Hornedo, who hailed from Brooklyn, New York. At times during his tribute to Hornedo, Howe choked up to the point of tears. Although Hornedo died, Howe said he still “lives in my heart.”
On June 28, 2013, Hornedo died in Tikrit, Iraq when an improvised explosive device exploded, killing Hornedo in his vehicle while he was conducting convoy operations. He was only 27, leaving a wife and two small children. His death devastated all who knew him, including Howe.
“We never forget,” Howe said.
Rep. Tim O’Driscoll
The next speaker was State Rep. Tim O’Driscoll, who is widely admired in the Minnesota Congress and elsewhere for his long-time work to pass legislation that helps military personnel and veterans.
(Please note: Some of the following information came from a 2013 Newsleader feature story written about Phillip and Rollie Weis.)
At the ceremony, O’Driscoll paid tribute to two Sartell brothers who served in World War II – one of them a soldier who died in Europe, the other a Navy man who served in the South Pacific. During the bloody ongoing Battle of the Bulge in Europe (mainly in France, Belgium, Luxembourg), German Nazis were intent on pushing back and defeating Allied troops. Ultimately the Germans failed, they were pushed back into Germany where they and Adolf Hitler met an utter defeat, although many Allies (nearly 100,000 of them) died in that effort. One of them was a young Sartell man, Phillip Weis, who was shot while in a forested area of Luxembourg. But no one knew for sure what happened to Weis until 10 months later when a local married couple were taking a walk in that forest when they spotted a skeleton and a metal identification called “dog tags” that all soldiers carried. The couple contacted authorities about what they’d found and authorities in turn contacted the Weis family in Sartell.
Phillip’s loved ones were of course grief-stricken, not to mention stunned, when they heard the news of Philip’s fate. It was learned he was killed probably sometime in January 1945 just four or five months before the war’s end.
Phillip’s brother, Rollie, also served during World War II as a Navy sailor in the South Pacific and later became a very active lifetime member of the American Legion of Sartell.
Later, the Luxembourg man who, with his wife, had found Philip’s body was a guest of honor at a Sartell Memorial Day ceremony years ago, O’Driscoll noted. Rollie and his wife, Janette, visited Europe to view Phillip’s gravesite at the American Military Cemetery in Luxembourg. O’Driscoll pointed out that Phillip, who was a soldier under the command of famed Gen. George Patton, was buried in that cemetery just eight graves down from where Gen. Patton was buried after his death in late 1945.
It is also an eerie coincidence that Phillip died just three miles from where his grandfather lived before immigrating from Luxembourg to the United States in 1871.
O’Driscoll pointed out the sad coincidence that Rollie Weis died May 8, 2022 at his home in Sartell, exactly 77 years from the date when the German Army surrendered to the Allies, May 8, 1945. Weis was 97.
Salute, Taps
The Memorial Day ceremony ended with the Legion Prayer, a benediction after which audience members “planted” flags on the lawn near the speakers’ podium as the high-school band performed “It’s a Grand Old Flag.” The rifle squad fired off a 21-gun salute, then a solo performer in that band played a mournful version of “Taps.”
After the ceremony, snacks and refreshments were served to one and all in the community center.
The Sartell High School Sabres Marching Band performed a pleasing mixture of patriotic tunes both rousing and moving all through the Memorial Day ceremony outside of the Sartell Community Center.
On a beautiful Monday morning, people watched and listened from bleachers and lawn chairs during the Memorial Day ceremony at the Sartell Community Center.
