'We haven't forgotten about them'

Veterans post flags as Memorial Day nears

Friday, May 27, 2005

By AMANDA WILLIAMS

The Register-Mail

GALESBURG - With a bundle of small American flags tucked under his left arm, Paul Peck traipsed through Hope Cemetery on Thursday afternoon holding a long metal hole-digger as though it were a cane. John McGahey, a fellow veteran, walked alongside him with another bundle of flags in his right hand.

Four days before Memorial Day, Peck and McGahey showed respect for veterans who have passed before them. It's a routine Peck has followed annually since 1978.

Asked why he does it, Peck stopped in his tracks and had to think for a moment.

"We honor the dead, that's what it amounts to," Peck said. "Let them know we haven't forgotten about them."

Peck, a veteran of World War II, said he considers Memorial Day the most important day of the year, more than any other day.

"The thing is, you can't get anybody to do anything anymore, besides putting out flags," Peck said. "We can't even get any help for bingo. The American Legion is the same way, they have problems too. I'm a member of both of them - a lifetime member of the VFW and American Legion."

McGahey, a veteran of the Korean War, slowed his pace and stopped in front of a small, white, arched stone.

"There's an 'unknown,' " McGahey said.

Peck twisted the sharp end of his digger into the ground near the stone, stepping on the digger with his right foot. As Peck pulled the rod out, McGahey slipped one of the two-foot tall flags into the new hole.

Hunting for all 230 veteran grave sites in Hope Cemetery is at least a three-hour job, Peck said, but the arched stone tops help to identify the veterans' graves.

"We read the names on all of them," Peck said.

As Peck and McGahey pass each stone in Hope Cemetery, Peck pauses to point out stones of prominent people in Galesburg's history, such as Silas Willard, the Rev. Hiram H. Kellogg and George Washington Gale.

"You'll get an education coming here, this is the history of Galesburg," Peck said.

McGahey stopped in front of five arched-top stones lined together, three of which lean forward.

"I imagine they're Civil War, maybe even earlier than that. I can't read them," McGahey said. "There's probably a lot of history in here."

Memorial Day Parade

When: 10 a.m. Monday

Where: Parade starts at Chambers and Main streets

Parade lineup includes: Veteran organizations, five military flags, the Exchange Club handing out flags to children, Monmouth bagpipers, police and fire departments, politicians, reserves, Women's Relief Corps and the Galesburg High School band. This year's grand marshal is Hal Cisco, a veteran.

Memorial Day Ceremony

When: Immediately following parade

Where: Knox County Courthouse

Ceremony includes: National anthem by the GHS band, invocation by the Rev. Ernie Pizzamiglio, welcome remarks by Mayor Gary Smith, speaker Doug Mustain, laying of the wreaths and a benediction by Guy Legate, Veterans of Foreign Wars chaplain.