A moment of remembrance and thanks for veterans in Blue Springs

By Jeff Fox
The Examiner

Veterans and families of veterans got thanks and recognition at a ceremony Monday morning in Blue Springs.

“They came home, but so many of their friends did not,” the Rev. Paula Isgrig said in a ceremony at St. Mary’s Village. She is a chaplain with Crossroads Hospice & Palliative Care, which held the event.

Fifteen veterans were given certificates, as were another nine last week at the Shangri-La Rehab & Living Center in Blue Springs.

“As Thomas Jefferson said, the price of freedom is eternal vigilance,” she said.

She stressed that families of veterans deserve thanks as well.

“For they gave up a great deal when their loved ones went off to serve their country,” she said.

The ceremony included prayer, the Pledge of Allegiance, a moment of silence, and all voices joining in for “America the Beautiful.”

She thanked veterans in attendance “for what you have endured and what you have become” by serving.

Isgrig stood in front of a background of seven flags – the U.S. flag and then, hung as banners, the flags of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard as well as the POW/MIA flag.

She took a moment to remind those present of service personnel captured or missing – missing still – and the pain their families have suffered. She described a table near the flag, set with several symbolic items, including a tablecloth of white for purity of purpose, and salt for the tears of families “who long for answers after decades of uncertainty.”