Commemorations set to focus on World War I

CHILLICOTHE – As commemorations such as the Memorial Day ceremony at Grandview Cemetery Monday mark the final year of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, attention will next turn to remembering the centennial of America’s involvement in World War I.

Speaking during Monday’s commemoration, which carried a decidedly heavy Civil War theme, Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 108 Commander Robert Leach said that World War I will play a greater role in Memorial Day events in the coming years to mark the United States’ entry into that conflict in April of 1917. That entry was brought about in part by unrestricted submarine attacks by German U-boats on passenger and merchant ships as war raged in Europe, which resulted in the loss of several American lives. Also contributing to American involvement was a German attempt to entice Mexico into a fight with the United States that was uncovered before it could gain traction.

World War I has a special place in the institutional memory of Chillicothe, Leach noted, since the city played host to Camp Sherman, one of the premier training grounds for soldiers in that war. More than 40,000 U.S. troops were trained at the grounds beginning in 1917. Randy Davies, president and CEO of the Chillicothe-Ross Chamber of Commerce, said discussions are just getting under way looking at several potential ways the anniversary can be marked in the community during 2017, with a likely kickoff to the commemoration sometime in 2016.

With the World War I focus in the future, however, a large crowd of attendees for this year’s Memorial Day commemoration at the cemetery were welcomed by music from the Civil War period played by the Union army-clad 73rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry Regimental Band.

Leach opened the commemoration by laying out why he feels the Grandview Cemetery ceremony is the best in the United States every Memorial Day – one of the main ones being the fact it is held in a cemetery that contains those who served in every conflict the country has been involved with going back to the Revolutionary War.

Veteran Jack Clark offered the Memorial Day address.

“Today, we come together as individuals drawn to this place by a common purpose -- not to remember those who fell in a single battle, but to remember all too many who died from too many wars,” Clark said. “To remember that our nation's freedom was purchased at a very high price. We gather as free men and women, regardless of color, because we all share one creed: We are all proud Americans."

Clark said the commemoration is also a time to carry on a sacred tradition of honoring those who have fallen that spans generations and that will continue with generations to come.

Following a three-volley salute from the Ross County Veterans Honor Guard, attendees followed members of the regimental band to four veteran gravesites in the cemetery – Civil War General Joshua Sill's, Confederate soldier Mordecai Hopewell's, Civil War African-American soldier Alex Roberts' and Union Army soldier and Congressional Medal of Honor recipient Richard Enderlin's. At each site, attendees were told a little about each man, rifle salutes by the Co. K Sharpshooters from the 110th Ohio Volunteer Infantry unit were fired and "Taps" was played.