by Dennis Dalman
editor@thenewsleaders.com
On Memorial Day in Rice, people sat or stood in the shade of four trees and listened as officials memorialized the names of deceased veterans buried in the nearby cemetery, each name followed by the ringing of a bell.
The scene took place in front of the Veterans’ Memorial Monument next to the Immaculate Conception cemetery just south of Main Street. On a hot sunny morning, several hundred people attended the ceremony, along with officials from the American Legion of Rice, the Legion Auxiliary, Rice Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts, the Knights of Columbus and the Sauk Rapids-Rice High School Band, which performed rousing patriotic songs at intervals during the ceremony.
In his opening remarks, Rice American Legion Commander Fred Segler praised veterans who gave “their life’s blood to maintain our freedom.” Those men and women are “citizen soldiers who came from farms, villages, cities” to fight for America and its freedoms, and the soldiers’ families also helped the cause, Segler added.
“Always, always remember that freedom is not really free,” Segler said.
The ceremony included the Honor Guard posting flags, a benediction by Chaplain Jan Hovda of the Legion Auxiliary, a rifle salute and the playing of Taps.
After reading the list of deceased veterans’ names accompanied by the ringing of the bell, Chaplain Don Miklos of North Prairie said, “Never, never forget these names. Let each stroke of that bell inscribe those names into your heart.”
Two of the deceased veterans in the cemetery are family relatives of Miklos: Frank Long, a WWI veteran, and buried right by his side, his son Merle Long, a Vietnam War veteran. Miklos himself is a veteran from the Korean War era.
The ceremony, which began at 11:30 a.m., was the third Memorial Day observance in the Rice area, with two earlier ones having taken place at Graham United Methodist Church Cemetery and at Langola Township Cemetery.
The following are the names of veterans buried in Immaculate Conception Cemetery: Alphonse Aschenbrenner, Edwin Aschenbrenner, Ira Baron, Elphege Bieganek, William Burgraff, Albert Christle, George Christle, Herbert Christle, Steve Christle, Thomas DeFlorin, Daniel DeMaris, John Evans, Lawrence Evans, Alphone Fiedler, Benedict Fiedler. Herman Fiedler, Julius Frommelt, Clarence Frommelt, John Goebel, Joseph Gottwalt Jr., Raymond Guck, Floyd Hall, Elizabeth Halweg, Dan Hohmann, Lloyd Karls, Blaise Legatt, Bruce Lepinski, Leonard Levinksi, Arthur Linn, Frank Long, Merle Long, Ernest Maciej, Maurice Marchand, Clarence Medeck, Gerald Paradeis, Jane Paradeis, Louie Petron, Arthur Popp Sr., Jacob Popp, Roman Popp, Mathew Poster, John Quinlan, A.J. Rudolph, James Saldana, George Saldana, Wilfred Sauer, George Sauer, Joe Sauer, Lawrence Sauer, Norbert Sauer, Phillip Sauer, Roger Schlicting, Joseph Schneider, Louis Schneider, James Schneider, William E. Scott III, Arthur Sebrasky, Joe Sisher, Delano Soderholm, Edwin Sufka, Leo Sufka, Lyle Tiemann, Claude Trutwin, Jerome Werner, John Wollak and Gene Zirbel.
The names of veterans buried in Langola Township Cemetery are: Ralph Anderson, Frank Brown, William Cairns, Walter Cairns, Simeon Case, William Ferman, William Gersemehl, T. Holmes, Ronald Kary, Rodney Lindgren, Joseph McNeal, Louis McNeal, Andrew Morse, August Meinert, Glen Miller, Theodore Miller, Benjamin Noggle. George Oelrich, George Oexmann, William Raber, Oswald Reiter, Thomas Simpson, C.E. Sparrow, Roy Stanton Sr., Ronald Veeders, Phillip Wippler and Lawrence Wasner.
The names of veterans buried in Graham United Methodist Church Cemetery are: Orvis Anderson, Reinhold Briese, Duane Denchfield, Ernest Foss, Fred Huston, Melvin Knowles, Joseph Larson, Robert LaVigne, Warren Medina, Harvey Meinert, Theron Melius and Lawrence Nuebeck.
Rice Boy Scouts and one Rice Cub Scout take part in the Memorial Day ceremony in Rice.
Members of the Sauk Rapids-Rice High School Marching Band perform at the Rice Memorial Day Ceremony at the Immaculate Conception Cemetery.
People listen to the speeches given during the Rice Memorial Day ceremony at Immaculate Conception Cemetery.
This is the gravestone of one of the many veterans honored at the Rice Memorial Day ceremony at Immaculate Conception Cemetery near downtown Rice. Merle A. Long was buried beside his father, also a war veteran.
