“My heart has a big hole in it today,”
Illinois lawmaker Ron Stephens said after
delivering an emotional Memorial Day speech
Monday in Jacksonville.
The decorated Vietnam War veteran paid
tribute to his legislative colleague, Rep.
Jim Watson, R-Jacksonville, who is serving
a 270-day tour of duty with the 1st Marine
Expeditionary Force in Iraq.
Rep. Stephens, R-Greenville, also remembered
fallen comrades who served with him and his
son’s West Point classmate who was killed in
2003 during the war in Iraq.
Choking back emotion, Rep. Stephens, said,
“We must try to remember them all, but if
you can just grasp one and say to yourself,
‘I’ll never forget you,’ then you will have
done what every soldier, man or woman, has
ever asked — ‘Don’t forget me.’”
Several hundred people packed the
Jacksonville American Legion hall, where the
ceremony was held when rainy weather forced
the event indoors.
In a June 2, 1970, firefight in Binh Dinh
Province in Vietnam Joseph Michael Giusta, a
young specialist, “died from the bullets
that pierced my body, because he was brave
enough to follow me in the battlefield when
I thought he should stay behind,” Rep.
Stephens recalled.
That day his commanding officer, Col. J.J.
Clarke, was killed in a helicopter above
the battle when he “was riddled with
bullets, because he was bringing his command
down to help us.”
Following the battle Rep. Stephens spent 18
months recovering from his wounds. He was
awarded a Purple Heart and Bronze Star for
his actions that day.
Standing at the podium, Rep. Stephens
pointed out a bracelet he wears bearing the
name of David Bernstein, his son’s
classmate.
Lt. Bernstein died in 2003 in Iraq while
saving the life of a comrade after his unit
came under fire.
Lt. Bernstein’s femoral artery was severed
when he took a round in the leg.
Nevertheless, Lt.. Bernstein grabbed his
wounded driver, “and drug him out, firing
over his shoulder,” Rep. Stephens recalled.
“He drug him back to the next Humvee and
laid him behind it, so he was out of harm’s
way. Then he laid down and died. For his
actions he received the Silver Star.”
Rep. Stephens also called on parents to
challenge their children to serve their
country as past and current generations have
done.
“The biggest problem with the military today
is America’s complacency,” he said. “We need
more men like Jim Watson who feel compelled
to say, ‘It can’t always be someone else’s
son or daughter. Sometimes it’s got to be
me.’
“Maybe you’re not going to be a Marine like
Jim Watson. Maybe you’re going to serve some
other way,” he added. “We have a Peace
Corps. We have cities that are overrun with
crimes and drugs.”
Rep. Watson spent Memorial Day in Iraq
taking part in a memorial service for four
Marines from his unit who were killed
earlier this month in Anbar Province, Rep.
Stephens said after his speech.
“Jim was close enough that he heard the
explosion that killed four Marines,” Rep.
Stephens said. “People think that because he
is a state representative, he’s perfectly
safe and well.
“I’m sure he will be fine, but he is in
harm’s way,” he said. “They don’t call it
‘harm’s way’ because it sounds good. Those
Marines are dead.
AUDIENCE MOVED BY SPEECH
Rep. Ron Stephens’ personal remembrances
Monday of fallen Vietnam War comrades
brought tears to the eyes of Jacksonville
resident Judy Cisne, a regular attendee of
Jacksonville’s Memorial Day
commemorations.
“It brought back a lot of memories,” Mrs.
Cisne said. “Every year at this time I
always remember my brother who was killed
over there.”
Larry E. Welch, of Jacksonville, a U.S. Army
2nd lieutenant, died at the age of 21 in
1968 in Vietnam when he was shot in the
chest while patrolling, his sister said.
Ernest “Perk” Chumley, a U.S. Air Force
pilot who was held as a prisoner of war in
Nazi Germany during World War II, was among
the honored guests at the local observance
honoring men and women who have died in U.S.
military service.
At the American Legion hall Monday, Mr.
Chumley displayed parts of the airplane he
was co-piloting when it was shot down over
Steyr, Austria, on April 2, 1944.
The parts and a display case were given to
Mr. Chumley after remnants of the bomber
were recovered last year by Marty Upchurch,
the nephew of the plane’s ball turret
gunner, Federick H. Eulert. Sgt. Eulert was
injured during the downing of the plane and
died the next day.
Mr. Chumley uses the remains of the plane
during his “Mission of Education” about
World War II at area schools.
