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Imagine, a single dirt street stretching like a ribbon

through the heart of a modest town.

It's 1940 Washington, Utah, a community of about 500 souls,

where life was as warm and inviting as the desert sun.

Two dim, 40-watt streetlights stood sentinel,

their glow casting long, comforting

shadows across the road.

By day, the air was filled with that distinct aroma

of farm life, and the laughter of children

echoed across open fields.

By evening, neighbors would gather on their porches,

sharing stories under the vast expanse of the Utah sky.

In this town, everyone knew your name and your story.

Need to borrow something?

It was only a porch away.

Extra eggs?

Shared without hesitation.

Washington wasn't just a place to live.

It was a living, breathing memory

to the strength of community and the simple joys of life.

This simple way of life, however, was altered forever

by the grasps of World War II as a fourth

of its community patriotically left to help fight in that war.

Because of those soldiers' service and sacrifice,

this town has honored them throughout the years,

and has always looked up to them as heroes.

Do you want them at ease?

I need to say anything to them?

You don't have to say anything.

At ease.

All right, you guys, hey.

Thank you.

Thank you so much for coming.

You have been, for the last five years, people

that we could count on to do this.

And as an old guy, I have to tell you,

it makes me pretty proud to see you here.

And I think what you're going to do tonight

is going to be very memorable.

It's a perfect night, except a little cold, to do this.

Our goal is to create a field of flags

to honor the veterans that served in Washington County.

move it.

You want to move it?

So I'm Burke Staheli.

I grew up here.

OK.

Snap it a couple of times.

Is it straight?

Good.

In Washington, Utah, generations have grown up here.

Take it clear on that end.

Lift.

And Caeden, you come over here and run it right up

this middle row.

Maybe this will be a tutorial for people

all across the United States, how to lay

out a flag field in 20 minutes.

We said I went to second grade in this room

we're sitting in right here.

And I guess, my dad probably did, too.

First of all, I grew up going to church in the Rock Church

just north of where we are.

And every-- every time I'd go to class,

I would see this big framed poster of all of these veterans.

We've done this now for almost 20 years,

so they water the grass so that it's kind of muddy.

And so we can put these in.

But then when we pull this, when we

pull the flags on top of them, they go down into the mud.

And then it kind of locks them in.

Make sure it's touching every single one of those posts.

So grab some of these stakes and make

sure they're fairly straight.

See how that one's a little crooked.

Each of you grab three or four.

And then you guys just move the tape up.

OK.

You guys, each of you, grab three or four

of the straight ones out of the bucket.

And Caeden, you just stay over there and move the tape up.

And then we'll be ready.

We're going to start putting them out at five.

Only every 10 feet.

So just 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60.

All right.

Then grab some more stakes.

Push them in good.

What we're going to do is we're make like a spear point.

OK.

So even though we put them in, we're going to take them out.

So I want those four that way, all out.

And those four on that end, all out.

Just pull them out.

Yep.

Never really fought in a war, but I'd been in the military.

And I thought, what could I do about it?

Sir, young man, these are military flags.

You guys want to take those up and put them up by the soldier.

Come over here, volunteers.

Come here.

I know some of these guys.

Come here.

Come here, come here, come here

Oh, my goodness.

Come here.

Come up here. Come up here.

All right.

Turn around and face these these ROTC soldiers.

All right.

So what they're going to do is I want you to partner up with one

of them, or two of them.

All right.

These are your volunteer helpers.

We'll start on this table.

And when that table's done, we'll work to the middle table.

And then we'll work to the north table.

Is everybody-- OK.

All of you guys, go find a buddy.

Buddy them up. OK.

Fall out.

Find a buddy.

All right.

And let's start putting the flags up.

All right.

Been in the military,

I just retired four years ago.

Was in the Navy for 7 and 1/2 years,

in the Army for 24 and 1/2.

Veteran is, by regulation, someone

who served more than 180 consecutive days

on federal orders.

A lot of times, people will say that Veterans

Day is the same as Memorial Day, which that's not true.

Veterans Day is, specifically, to give thanks and honor

to those veterans that are still serving, that served,

and many of them that have died.

Memorial Day is for those specifically

who gave their lives for this country

that are already deceased.

Get it straight, guys.

Get it-- make sure it's straight.

Thank you, veterans.

All right.

Now, step away from it.

Let's go.

Step away from it And then you guys just open up.

Just open up, and they'll be able to see

the whole-- look back.

Everybody, hey, just open up and look back through there

and see what you just barely built.

All right.

I married a girl from Heber City,

and her dad was a veteran of the Korean War.

So we would always visit her mother and her father's grave

on Memorial Day in Heber City.

And I remember coming around the corner

every time to their cemetery and just being

overwhelmed by the patriotism.

And I remember driving back and thinking,

what can I do about it?

When I was a little boy, this cemetery,

it used to be all dirt.

And every time it would rain, like mud would run.

And over the course of years, some of these good men

that you're going to meet today that run the cemetery, Mr.

Bithell, who grew up here and is a Washington kid,

they made this place look nice.

One thing I want to teach you today, and that is cemetery

is not a scary place.

It's a special place.

It's a place where we honor our ancestors,

where we honor those who went before us.

And this is neat.

We're out.

You're out of school, but reverent.

We want to be reverent, which is respectful.

As you do these soldiers today, I want you to honor them.

I want you to love them.

I want you to respect them.

I am going to demonstrate what you're going to do.

And then I'm going to assign Washington Elementary a section

of the cemetery to do.

All right.

Thanks.

And you make sure you tell these gentlemen, thank you.

Because when we originally bought these,

we had enough money to buy 160.

And now the city has provided more than 500 of these.

In the cemetery, you're going to see

every headstone marked with a flag

like this that needs a plaque.

So what you do is you come up to it,

your teachers will help assign you, so don't miss anyone.

You take this and you just set it on the ground.

Then you put this marker right where that flag was,

pretty much.

OK.

Push it in pretty good, so it doesn't come out.

And then you put the flag in.

All right.

Now, here's the important part.

This is the respect part.

So you stand in front of it.

You take two steps back, put your heels together

like in a little v. All right.

And you look at their name.

Can you guys repeat his name with me?

Quentin Alexander Nisson.

So you're going to do this.

You're going to go like this.

You're going to look at their headstone.

Look at their name, and you're going

to say, Quentin Alexander Nisson,

thank you for your service.

And you're going to drop your salute.

Then you're going to get on your hands and knees.

All right.

And you're going to go around like this.

And you're just going to trim and clean all around.

OK.

Just take a little bit.

Just like you're a little weed whacker.

All right.

And you're going to go all around until you get that done.

And then clean it off with your hand.

And then when you're done, go back to the line

and get another flag.

All right.

Take some time and get to know them.

Each one of these soldiers, and there are men and women,

each one of them are special.

All right, everybody, walk up here with me.

George Norman Holgerson, thank you for your service.

Thank you for your service.

Doyle Edwin Charter, thank you for your service.

Max Richard Grundvig, thank you for your service.

Evan Ray Sproul, thank you for your service.

Peter Lamar Mickelson.

Thank you for your service.

My goal, as a principal,

was to make sure that the youth of America, that they

knew that freedom isn't free.

And so that was my whole thing.

This is Rodney Neilson.

Rodney Neilson grew up just a block south of the old school

in the middle of town.

And my dad knew him, and my dad said

he was the best-looking, nicest kid in town.

When I became the principal of Washington Elementary,

I was going through some old documents,

and I found some old grade books.

And I found Rodney Neilson.

And two things I remember about him is he had straight A's.

He had perfect grades.

And he also had perfect attendance.

All of the old soldiers would tell you,

Rodney Neilson was the most respected

of all of the soldiers that went to World War II.

Well, in May of 1945, Rodney Neilson was flying his plane

on a mission, and his plane ran out of fuel,

and he had to crash land in the ocean.

He glided it in and just off shore.

He landed it.

And a bunch of his guys jumped out of the plane

and tried to escape.

And some villagers captured them in the South China seas.

And some villagers captured them,

turned them over to the Japanese.

And just before the end of the war, almost just a week before,

the Japanese executed Rodney Neilson.

Rather than letting him go, and letting

him come back here and live his life, they executed him.

And so in our town, and I'll get a little emotional about this.

But in our town, Rodney Neilson, even since I was a little boy,

has been revered.

And this spot right here is hallowed ground.

Because Rodney Neilson was a native son of Washington,

we named the post after him.

And we made-- we got together the monies

and put in place a new monument for his grave

in Washington City Cemetery.

I encourage people to take a look at it.

I think we did a really good job of honoring him,

and we want to continue to honor his name.

Hello.

We're on the same track.

We're so glad you came.

Thank you.

I appreciate your service.

Thank you.

There we go.

My name is Susan Hancock.

My husband and I brought our two little teeny

children here in 1978, and Washington

became our new hometown.

We're family.

Hello, cousin.

This picture, this historical photograph hung in our church.

And it was along the hallway.

And I remember taking screaming children out of a meeting

and bouncing them in the hall and standing

there looking at the picture.

And one day, while I was doing it with my little son,

Brayden, at the time, Terril Clove was out there.

And we were out in the lobby one day

and she was asking me about the picture.

I said, well, those are all the men

and the women that served in World War II from Washington.

It was actually a fourth of the population went to war.

And one day, it was early in 2002, Kathy Staheli was here,

and I came in and we stood and looked at this photograph.

And she mentioned to me, she pointed

to one person and then another who had recently passed away.

And we stood there together and I

said, Kathy, before we lose one more veteran,

let's get them together.

Let's have a reunion.

And she loved the idea.

And so we contacted Terril Clove.

We had a committee meeting and decided

we needed to do something to honor the veterans,

not just hang the picture on the wall.

I had a friend offer, who's a brain surgeon,

he came to our 20-year high school class reunion and he

said, hey, I have $10,000.

What would you like to-- do you something you could do with it?

I said, I have this idea about putting flags on veterans--

on veterans' headstones.

And at that time, I believe there was maybe 140, 150.

And I was the school principal, and I thought

we could have the fifth graders adopt

a veteran for the whole year.

They could learn about them and write letters

and put them on their graves.

And so that started.

So through the years as we have grown,

we'd always feed them a wonderful meal.

We'd have a program.

We wanted to have it start with a parade.

We've never had a parade before.

And I believe then, we really focused a lot

on this World War II bunch, knowing that they

wouldn't be around for long.

And from then, it has just been successful.

We're here today at the Washington Utah City

library.

And in this library, there's a special painting.

And in this painting, it depicts the history of Washington, Utah.

A portion of the painting itself is depicted in

represents the veterans that served in World War II

and from this town.

In the painting itself, you'll see several different things

that stand out.

You have Grant Iverson getting off the bus.

You have Rodney Neilson walking with his luggage.

You have Rex Prisbrey flying in a plane overhead.

You have Ivyl Smith, and several other people and things in it.

Grant Iverson, when he was serving in the campaign

in Mindanao, Philippines.

In that invasion, he was on his LCT boat with his crew.

And they were making deliveries back and forth

to the Island with soldiers and different cargo

and things of that nature.

Dad never talked much about it

because it was really something that was really deep

inside of him.

And he didn't start talking about World War II

until his really later years.

When he brought out the box of pictures

the first time we saw him, us girls

were just shocked because most of the little native girls

in New Guinea were topless, you know.

And so we were kind of shocked with those.

Yeah.

Dad was in the Navy for 28 months, and 26 of those months,

he was overseas.

He had little PT boat that would take people

and drop them off on the land.

And he says, I was so thankful every day that I was in the Navy

and I wasn't a soldier.

Because it was so sad to see him-- to drop him off and not

know what's going to happen.

Just before the atomic bomb, they were all headed to Japan.

That's where they were going to land,

and they were going to deport there.

And he said, if they wouldn't have let that bomb off,

he says, I know I wouldn't have ever returned home.

And he says, it was the second bomb

that really saved their lives because it was

before the second bomb is when they

were going to drop them off.

And he says, we'd probably all lost our lives there.

In one of his deliveries, he caught wind

that a special friend of his, that he grew

up with from Washington, who was in that campaign also, had died.

Now the person that had died was Ivyl Smith Prisbrey.

And he went by Smith.

And that's how everybody knew him.

He was an interesting individual,

because when I was doing my research on him

and contacting family members of the different veterans

of this World War II group, I found out

that he was one of the few that actually

was married before he left.

And very few of those that actually had a child.

So doing my background and talking to people,

I found out that his wife had passed away,

and that his daughter was still alive.

To different people, finding different avenues,

I got her phone number, and I called her.

And we had a very, very wonderful visit.

We both shared information and stories

that we knew of, and anyhow, she,

towards the end of the visit, told me to wait a minute

and she went to go get a piece of paper.

When she came back, she started to read this piece of paper,

and she told me that this was from Smith's commanding officer.

And in the letter, it said that how he had passed away,

that he had caught shrapnel from an explosion,

and that he was in the field hospital for a day or so.

And then from his wounds, he passed away.

And I thought to myself, this must

have been a really comforting letter to a degree for his wife.

But I never thought of the impact

this would have on his daughter.

Because towards the end of reading it to me,

she fell apart and just started getting very emotional with it.

And that effort by that commanding officer

was a connection for her to her father.

And that to me, is special.

Now, out of the 104 veterans or soldiers

that came from this town, everybody

came back except for two.

And to me, that, in itself, was a miracle.

Do you guys know who this guy is?

No.

This is my dad's-- this is my dad's big brother.

Yeah, we know each other.

This is my Uncle George.

And he's been doing these wagons we've been doing for 20 years.

- Yeah. - Something like that.

And this is his wife.

And this is, in a case of a better half, I would say,

that fits right here.

2002 is when we started.

Yeah.

And we have first year to get everything going.

And we had a lot of World War II veterans back then.

And we don't have any now.

Yes, we do.

I don't think any is coming, but we

have one or two that are alive. Warren Hannig.

Warren Hannig is the only one alive.

So when the war broke out, it was

everybody's thought about it.

And everything else was their concern of how--

how did they feel about it?

Well, when the war broke out, I was in California at the time.

And that's where I went into the services

when I was in Los Angeles.

What was the reason you--

you joined the military?

Well, I knew I was going to be drafted.

So we either going to be drafted or--

or a chooser.

So that's what we did.

We-- we knew we were getting close to that point.

Tell us a little bit about Cleave Cooper.

Oh, Cleave Cooper.

He was one of my better friends when we were growing up.

And we did a lot of things together, a lot of things

we shouldn't have done, and a few things like that.

Then Rex Prisbrey, he--

he was my first cousin lived next door to me.

He went over to Europe.

I think I told you he was flying B-24s

and he got shot one time with flak.

And they had told-- they told his crew,

just get ready to bail out.

And finally, the engineer on the plane was able to--

to twist the-- the hydraulic tools

and seal it off so that they weren't

losing all their interior.

The plane was getting all flooded with oil.

And so he managed to get it back to the base.

It was the National Guard what Rex was in.

Rex and them were in the first bunch to go from Washington.

But he said when he was in there,

he didn't want to be in the army because he said, he--

he wasn't about to be trailing around.

So he wanted to be in the air corps.

So he got in the air corps.

And then he flew the Hump.

Flying over the Hump

wasn't for the faint of heart.

I was a part of a 24th combat mapping squadron,

which flew many missions from India to China

through these mountains.

Every mission brought new challenges, new dangers.

But we did it because it had to be done.

If you weren't down on the ground surviving,

you were up here, facing the other threat,

unpredictable, natural elements.

Oil pressure?

Oil pressure steady.

And fuel.

Fuel is good.

How's she feeling, Rex?

Holding up.

There's a storm brewing up ahead.

Do we go through it or around it?

Well, we don't have the fuel to go around it.

Through it.

Lovely.

How's it looking?

Swell.

Like navigating through a minefield blindfolded.

Hey, we're sure taking a beating.

Just hold her steady.

We need to climb above this mess.

The instruments are moving.

Here's hoping for calmer skies.

Engine is out.

Just an engine?

Feather the prop.

We can manage on three.

Losing altitude fast.

Hold it.

Hold it.

Hold it.

I am.

There, we need to make it through that pass.

That's a tight fit.

Can we make it?

We have no choice.

Steady.

Come on, come on.

Steady, steady.

Oh.

You sure know how to pick them, Rex.

It's just another day over the Hump, Johnny boy.

Well, I really--

I worried-- we're worried about them all the time.

I can remember the school teacher, like, when

she was telling us what to do.

But our boys were always close.

They were-- they kept in touch with each other while

this gone to and everything.

But we were a close-knit family.

We loved each other too.

And they gave a flag to put in the door in mama's window.

And it had star on it for each one that was in there.

And she always hang that in the dark.

Rex said that one time, he got this new plane,

he was the pilot.

And his crew, he had--

I don't remember how many in the crew,

but they went in the other plane.

They were all killed.

And Rex-- Rex got saved because they'd given him another plane.

And then the Chinese got--

later, after he got home from the war,

they made a big monument for all of these people.

And the guys that got killed and everything,

they invited Rex over to give a speech to dedicate this thing.

I've got pictures of all of it.

It's really neat.

He was really honored, and he was proud

that this crew was honored.

I believe it's the best parade of the year.

I believe it's the best parade in America.

There we go.

OK.

You got everything here you need.

OK. Yeah.

If you can go find some flags, we'll put that on the other.

We have three boys.

Really?

I'm jumping up here?

Come on, Fred.

Fred, these mountain men, they can do everything.

Fred, one of a kind.

One of a kind.

Appreciate your service. Yeah.

Appreciate yours.

He's just going to come and help you and get on board.

Wonderful.

You did good on the weather.

I know--

Isn't she in charge?

I think we're going to have more guys than we

think from the Triple Deuce.

So if they don't all fit, load these up.

What time do we need to be here?

You've got 30 minutes until you're late, so you're early.

You're early.

That's good for you, Tim.

Yeah, I know.

That's pretty good.

So we've got 10.

We're going to have 10 cadets assigned, five on each side

to walk on the side of the house there

to make sure no-- nobody in the parade passes through that area

at all.

They're kind of--

Yes, sir.

OK.

Are you the leader, Barnum?

Who's the leader of this site?

OK.

Come here.

All right.

Give me you five.

You guys wait a sec.

OK.

I want the tallest guy out here.

You're out here, Blake.

OK.

And I want you this far in front.

OK.

And then I want you guys to be evenly spaced.

So you're going to be in the middle,

and you're going to be about two arm lengths in the back.

During the parade, you guys' role

is to keep everybody in the parade safe,

that nobody gets in here.

Nobody gets out here.

Nobody, no little kid, no one runs out here.

You're going to be just behind the howitzer right

here, just like that.

If the howitzer stopped, you guys are

at the position of attention.

When the howitzer moves, you're going

to step off your left foot.

You're going to move forward.

The howitzer is going to stop, you're going to stop.

That very few people know is that St. George City

and Hurricane City and Washington City pay

for the buses for every band.

Because bands don't make a lot of money.

But if they know they can come to this parade

and they don't have to pay the field trip fee, 30--

30 buses.

And that takes a lot of organization.

Considering school had to start, you had to get everybody there,

then you got to get everybody here.

Then you got to get everybody back before school is over.

Hi, guys.

Hello.

Thank you.

They're going to bring-- they're going to bring more.

They're bringing more. You guys can have those, here.

I guess, the powers have been decided,

it would be a great idea to have everyone join together

in this celebration, instead of having separate celebrations

in the different cities.

But we're grateful that you're here,

and we want to welcome everyone from Washington County.

So thank you so much for coming out.

I think of everything that started with a few little kids

cramped into the cemetery.

And I don't think--

I think Warren Hannig is like the only one that's still

alive of that original group.

And-- and-- but I think they know--

before they pass, they know we cared about them

and their families sure know.

And anybody that moves here, they love it.

We went from just a reunion of these good people

on the wall behind me, to where we were inviting everyone

who had ever served to where we were inviting any--

I mean, not just Washington, but any community who came.

And then it became the County celebration.

And it is the biggest single-day celebration and parade

that we have in our city.

We want everybody that

has served to feel appreciated.

And-- and so we're grateful to keep going on until we drop,

I guess.

Today, we gather to honor the brave men

and women who have served our country

with courage and sacrifice.

Any veterans over here?

Hi, everybody.

Here we go, Tom.

In every town, there's a hero.

Every town, I don't care how big it is.

And those heroes should be recognized in bronze monuments.

And that's what we're trying to-- to do.

And that's what they are trying to do.

So I give credit to those people that--

that think of the people before them.

What happened is I have some friends in town that wanted me

to do a bunch of bronzes for the historical pieces in St. George

and around Southern Utah.

So as a result, I've done 92 life size pieces.

The process in bronze is called the lost wax process.

I start with a steel armature on life size pieces

and small pieces, and then I use an oil

based clay to put around the skeleton or the armature.

The city gave us permission where it was.

You've got to realize, 20 years ago, that this was the only city

park Washington had.

And every activity was there, 4th of July, 24th of July,

every birthday party, every flag football game, every soccer

game, every kickball game.

And so it was unique that the way we could design it there,

that that veteran watched over all of the activities

of Washington.

And if you go up and look at that,

you'll see it standing really high on some rocks

that looks over the park.

Still, I'm going to take care of the citizens of Washington.

And I think a lot of the kids feel that way.

And I think that's one of the big advantages of what we did,

that it's making a lot of the young kids, especially

in the Washington elementary schools, really aware

of the sacrifice for freedom.

To see what young men from this community did for me,

I never had to go to war.

And by them coming home and telling

their story made Washington what it is.

What it was going to look like, I don't think

anybody had a design in mind.

We were working on the monument.

And I like to work with rocks.

Down at our place, we've got rock walls and stuff.

And I said, I can put a rock monument up there.

And we got two layers up.

And then I said, we've got to have a massive rock where

that statue can stand and be above the park

and be above everything else.

What it's done, I believe,

is it's let Washington city know,

and then Washington County know, and then

I believe Utah know that--

that we love our veterans.

So these kids had five or six ideas of wanting

to do a service project.

And they chose only wanting to come to the cemetery.

They had like going and helping some old people

and doing weeding and everything,

but they wanted to do the cemetery because they

just have a love for cemetery.

So when they came to me, I was like, yes, yes, yes.

Let's talk about it.

And so we came up with a plan.

They decided, their goal was to do 100 headstones in an hour.

And they've done 148.

So they've exceeded their goal.

And I think a lot of them will come back in a couple of weeks

and see if the solution is working for them.

And I think they'll take a little bit more interest

in Memorial Day and cemeteries, in general,

as well as with our veterans.

And that's-- yeah, you couldn't ask

for anything better than that.

This is a rising generation.

They're helping to teach the older generation, and some

of the maybe, you know, ex-generation, of why

is Memorial Day important.

Why do we come for Memorial Day to the cemeteries?

Why do we lay out flags?

Why do we want to try to keep our veterans' headstones get

legible and clean?

And I think that this generation is one of the best generations

to do that, because they are so young and eager.

Again, we had 30 some odd kids.

They did 148 headstones in an hour.

And they were happy doing it and excited doing it.

So that, right there, is the reason why doing this

was not only important to them, but really important to me.

Veterans mean something to me, dead or alive.

He started out in England,

and they were doing-- it was a mock mission

that they was getting ready to actually

invade the Normandy beaches.

And they wanted to do a mock up of it.

And he was involved with that.

And during that process, the--

there was, I guess, a number of U-boats

that got-- the Germans, of course, knew they were doing it,

and they got in there and started torpedoing all

the ships, you know, all the ships they could

that were involved in this exercise.

And he was on one of them.

And of course, his was filled with gasoline and all kinds

of things that he--

I guess, it really upset him, you know.

Of course, it would upset anybody

to be in a situation like that.

You know there was a U-boat.

And a lot of the ships were getting hit.

He could see the flames going up and explosions.

And that really upset him, of course, like, you would anybody.

But either the Germans run out of torpedoes

or they let off that his boat didn't get hit.

Then, of course, later on, he was

in on the invasion of Normandy.

He was at Utah Beach.

That's where he landed.

But he was hit.

That time, it was a land mine when the carrier came in.

And I guess, it-- it really tore the ship up.

Anyway, he was lucky to get out of that.

And he was rescued by an English ship.

And they were rescued from that ship and put on a British ship.

And of course, they were regrouped and--

and came in at a later date.

But anyway, those are two quite harrowing experiences that he

told, talked about to me.

I think after the war, you know, especially the combat he was in,

and everything, where he-- he saw all the carnage of war,

it really kind of had a really definitely an effect on him.

And he wanted to-- when he came back,

he wanted to do things that were good,

to try to help people, and--

and try to negate all his thoughts about the war.

When he came into Washington on the bus, it was dark.

And of course, the bus stop was the old store over here

that he eventually owned.

And it was dark and there were no street lights,

except for just a little one right

in the center here of town.

He became the mayor.

It was in 1950, and he was the mayor until 1964.

And so he was actually the mayor for 14 years.

But during that period of time, he really

wanted to improve Washington.

Like I say, that was kind of a catalyst when he came

into town to see no lights.

They were-- and the ones that were there, that kids

had shot them out with BB guns.

He loved the town, too.

I mean, he grew up in Washington.

And it was just part of his--

his being, I guess, if you want to call it that.

We come before thee this day

to dedicate this statue, memorial statue,

of one of our residents in this community, who we love

and who we have appreciated over the years.

We are so grateful for his service

and for his talents and his willingness

to share all with us.

And we appreciate all of those who,

during that Second World War conflict,

whose pictures are inside the Museum of that generation

of individuals.

And Quentin represents them, as we put this statue of him

as a memorial to him and to them.

May we all remember them simultaneously.

As we come and visit this memorial,

we'll be able to remember those men who

serve not only in that conflict, but before,

and those who have served since, and those who continue to serve.

A hero is not just someone who runs toward danger--

But someone who carries the weight

of others' safety in their heart long before the first step

is taken.

A hero is forged in silence--

In sacrifice.

And in the willingness to give up comfort and time.

For veterans, heroism is not a single act,

but a thread woven through countless moments.

Standing watch in the dead of night,

writing letters home with shaking hands.

Holding the line when others couldn't.

It's found in the quiet resolve to protect strangers.

To endure unimaginable hardship.

And to never leave someone behind.

Veterans are heroes not because they wore a uniform,

but because they wore the burden of freedom for us all.

And never ask for anything in return, but remembrance.

They are the ones who stood between chaos and calm.

And now, where marching on or fading away quietly

into the crowd--

They carry the stories we must never forget.