F.C. City’s Memorial Day Activities Honor the Fallen, Support the Community

Despite misty rain, Monday’s Memorial Day Parade & Festival, organized by the City’s Recreation & Parks Department, saw impressive and enthusiastic turnout. 

Winding through tree-lined neighborhood streets, hundreds participated in the morning’s 9:00 a.m. annual June and Mike Beyer Foundation 3K Fun Run, many sporting commemorative t-shirts from previous years’ runs, walks, and strolls. Due to the rain, the formal 11:00 a.m. Memorial Day Ceremony hosted by the Greater Falls Church Veterans Council was moved indoors from the Veterans Memorial to the Community Center gym. In the afternoon, enthusiastic rain-geared spectators lined Park Ave. to cheer on all the many spectacular floats and group formations in the Little City’s annual Memorial Day Parade. 

Throughout the day, a VA250 Mobile Museum was set up to commemorate the nation’s 250th anniversary. Kids enjoyed miniature pony rides, amusement park thrills, and bouncy inflatables. And colorful food trucks abounded along Little Falls St. with many happy customers.

The Washington Post even featured a photo from Falls Church City’s Memorial Day Parade to accompany its May 26 article, “Memorial Day celebrations in Washington honor 250 years of sacrifice.”

The Falls Church Independent checked out some of the day's goings-on and was impressed with how smoothly and spectacularly all the events and features were planned and orchestrated. We were also moved to hear from many how important Memorial Day is to them and their families.

In front of the Community Center we met the Director of Recreation and Parks, Dennis Schlitt, who had earlier emceed the start of the 3K Fun Run. He was hurrying off to supervise other activities, but he kindly introduced us to Charley O’Hara, an Advisory Board member of Recreation and Parks for the past 35 years. O’Hara had just walked the 3K.

“It’s been a wonderful time,” O’Hara said of his many years of service to the City of Falls Church. He agreed that this year’s turnout was impressive. “Yes. For the weather. Absolutely,” he said. 

We asked O’Hara what Memorial Day means to him. “It means a lot to me because I’m not only on the board, I’ve lived here my whole life,” he said. “I grew up on Park Avenue. I remember the parade when it used to go down Broad Street and then turn on to Park Avenue and end on Park Avenue, back when it was really known as the Firemen’s Parade. Because all the fire trucks from northern Virginia – really all the way out to Winchester – came here for the parade…”

The Memorial Day parade has changed a lot over time, O’Hara said. New types of vendors have come in. “The Fun Run was also added,” he said “It wasn’t there in the beginning and now it’s a great addition.”

The Fun Run certainly draws people out, we observed. “It really does, even in weather like this. It’s a rainy, misty day, and the crowds are here," O'Hara said. "The Beyer family providing the shirts has been a wonderful thing. It’s a lot of fun to watch the people walk and see what shirts they’re wearing from the many years they’ve participated. And how old they are. And then they come to the end and get the surprise of what color the shirts are going to be this year….. The fun part of it is just to see all the families here. There are multi-generations, three generations of people walking or pushing strollers or whatever. It’s a great family event.”

Soon we checked out the emergency medical tent and met with the Chief of the Falls Church City Volunteer Fire Department, Kelly Brown. 

We asked Chief Brown what Memorial Day means to her. “Personally, as a 26-year veteran of the United States Army, Memorial Day is even more special,” she said. “It’s the one time of the year that we honor our fallen and those who have given the ultimate sacrifice for our freedoms. And it really is true that freedom isn’t free and it’s appropriate that – despite the weather or anything else – that we take a moment out of our celebrations to really remember why we’re able to celebrate the way we do and honor those who have given their lives.”

Who was Chief Brown thinking of particularly on this Memorial Day? “So, we all have friends, and we all have friends of friends. Just last week I was at the Special Operations Forces week in Tampa, and there are a lot of good friends there who've been doing exceptional, above-and-beyond things, and I just remember all of them and all of our brothers and sisters who have gone out and given the ultimate sacrifice.”

We next approached Bill Hamill sporting a U.S. Navy ball cap and a U.S. Marine Corps 250th U.S. Anniversary t-shirt. “I was career-Navy and my grandfather was career-Marine Corps,” he said. Hamill has lived in the City of Falls Church for 30 years. He had just completed the 3K. “I do it every year,” he said. “Do you run the 3K every year?,” we asked. “Never,” he said. “I walk it…. It’s just my knees at this age – I’d like to be able to walk the rest of the day and the rest of the week,” he said with a laugh. 

Memorial Day has a “special meaning” to Hamill. “I think about all the sacrifices and the reason that everybody here can say whatever they want at any time and it’s because of people like my grandfather.” Hamill said he knows many people who “gave the ultimate sacrifice.” He added, “There are people out there – even today – in harm’s way, that are protecting our rights.” And for all the luxuries people enjoy today, those people have “sacrificed both their time and the ultimate sacrifice.”

“Go Navy!,” Hamill concluded cheerfully as we parted ways.

We spotted another 3K participant, Justin Fraser, who was sporting a U.S. Coast Guard t-shirt. “Memorial Day is probably one of the best days of the year, celebrating our country’s freedom and those who have fought for it over the past 250 years,” Fraser said. He has “extended family in the service,” he added, “and I’m just a supporter of him and the U.S Coast Guard and all of our military branches.”

On this Memorial Day, Fraser thinks of his brother in law who is “not with us anymore.” He “served in the U.S. Air Force,” Fraser said. “My grandfather was a Marine. And a lot of extended family have fought and served."

While Memorial Day is “not about the social part of it,” Fraser said, “It’s still good to see everyone out here. The weather’s breaking and I’m getting ready to celebrate our 250th birthday this summer.”

Soon we bumped into a longtime Falls Church City resident and friend, Nancy DeLew, a career U.S. Treasury Department civil servant. “I love to do the Fun Run every year,” she said. “I love seeing our neighbors out and it’s a great day today even if it’s raining.” For DeLew, the Memorial Day Festival is special. “You walk around the city and you don’t see crowds. But now you have all the wonderful people who live here…. There are older people, younger people…. a huge mix. People of all ages.”

Another longtime Falls Church City resident, Amy Sonderman, had just completed the 3K Fun Run. “For us it was more of a walk and a stroll,” Sonderman said. “But, it’s nice. It’s a great sense of community. You get to see friends. You get to come out and see everybody and talk about your Memorial Day plans. And make some plans too. So, it’s nice.”

“I’m here with my daughter. She’s a 5th grader at Oak Street,” Sonderman said. “And also with my husband. Plus my dog, Bella.” We were curious if Bella enjoyed the 3K. “She liked it, but, you know, we passed our house and she just wanted to go home,” Sonderman said with a laugh. 

Why is Memorial Day important to Sonderman? After thinking for a while, she said, “I think it’s a time to make sure we’re remembering democracy – the importance of democracy, and how more things really bind us together rather than tear us apart, right?”  

Next we bumped into another family friend, Meade Atkinson. “We’ve been doing this since 1993. That’s when we moved to Falls Church City. Every year except a couple,” Atkinson said. “We’ve added dogs and this year, other family members, and it’s just a real tradition we love…. We have five children and they’re all through the school system and each of them loves this as well.”

We noted we were impressed Atkinson participated in the 3K despite the rain. “Well, it wasn’t raining when I left! [Laughs]. But I survived it and actually it cools things off. And it thins the crowd a little bit, so it’s kind of nice,” he said.  

We asked Atkinson what Memorial Day means to him. “Good question,” he said. “It means, number one, thinking about the people who have given their time and resources and lives to keeping us safe here in the United States.” 

Finally, we attended the Memorial Day Ceremony inside the Community Center and out of the rain. One of this year’s parade Grand Marshals, Mary Jo West, was masterfully conducting the Falls Church Concert Band as they brilliantly played rousing and patriotic music and songs. 

Following the Post of Colors from American Legion Post 130, an invocation from Sydney Michaeli, Cantor, Temple Rodef Shalom, and a speech from Mayor Letty Hardi emphasizing the importance of honoring those who have sacrificed their lives in service to their country and the enduring civic spirit of the City of Falls Church, the Master of Ceremonies Harry Shovlin of the Greater Falls Church Veterans Council introduced the keynote speaker of the ceremony, Wyatt Shields, the soon-to-retire City Manager of 23 years. 

Shields’ keynote eloquently captured the spirit of Memorial Day with heartfelt stories of sacrifice from his own family's history. He began by acknowledging and thanking several military members in the audience and the laudable service Harry Shovlin of the F.C. Veterans Council has provided to local veterans.

Then Shields solemnly and humbly told his own story. “On these two important days of our civic life, Veterans Day and Memorial Day, it is most important for us really to show up, to rededicate ourselves to our service to this country, to our proud communities which make up this country, and it is for us civilians, most of all, to show up on Memorial Day to honor, in the words of Lincoln, ‘those who gave their last full measure of devotion to our country.’”

“And in Falls Church, their tradition since 1994 – Harry Shovlin designed it –  has been to gather here and provide beautiful music from the Falls Church Concert Band, led now by Mary Jo West, and the beautiful singing in the concert…. to reflect, to give thanks, and renew our civic faith.”

“And I took some inspiration this year from my son, Carlos, who’s here, who came back from training .... as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army,” Shields continued. “And he has led me to this passage from Isaiah. And in this passage, the crucial question is ‘Whom shall we send? Who will go for us? And I said, ‘Here am I. Send me.’”

“And now as parents of a member of our armed forces, Patty and I regularly consider all the implications of…. our children respond[ing] to this call of service…. But this stirring call, ‘Here am I. Send me’ [is for Isaiah] about the call to be a prophet. But the passage that follows this stirring call to service is jarring. It is foretold that the prophet’s words will not be heard, the people will turn away…. All will close their eyes. And as a consequence the cities will lie in ruin, the fields ravaged….”

“This is a hard road," Shields emphasized. "Carlos may even find a different inspiration," Shields said with a smile.

And thinking of families in a time of war, I’d like to share a little bit of my own, about my great uncle, Roger Shields, who was killed in action in World War II. He was my grandpa Fred’s only brother. And Roger was an artistic person, a writer. He was a husband who lived right up the road in Silver Spring, Maryland, and the father of two young children, and he was drafted into World War II.”

“As I understand it, he was not an enthusiastic soldier. Did he say, ‘Here I am. Send me’? I don’t know. But he was drafted in and he went. And his story is like many others. He mustered at Fort Meade. He trained at A.P. Hill. He was shipped to England as Private First Class Shields. And on November 19, 1944, he was shipped over to England…. And by January landed in France. The Allies were just then regaining territory lost after the Battle of the Bulge. He and his regiment, the 417th Regiment of the 76th Infantry Division, marched east and crossed into Belgium. And Roger was killed on the night of February 6, 1945, while crossing the Somme river…. under fire and was killed…”

“And Roger was killed within minutes of his first serious engagement with German forces. His parents, my great grandparents, Haddie and George, from Silver Spring, Maryland, just up the road, learned of his death in late March,” with “just six words in the Baltimore Sun” as they reported the “highest number of casualties in the war up to that point.”

“Just one month later, VE Day followed. And as the nation erupted in joy, Roger’s family lost themselves in grief. For Roger and other families like our own, in this act of faith, they planted many seeds. His brother, my grandfather, planted his family here in northern Virginia and carried his grief and resolve for years throughout his life in service to his community and in the military. He was a JAG lawyer serving clients in the military justice system.”

“And this passage of Isaiah ended with … a stump left behind [but leaving] the seed of .... a life cut down and a life spring[ing] back, as Roger’s soldiers from his regiment came home and built a new America. And Falls Church City itself was created in 1948 in great faith and optimism, I believe, [from] these veterans.… and so many others, military men, rededicated and inspired by the sacrifices of their fellow soldiers, like Roger Shields, to redeem this uncommon loss. And like these veterans… And when I think of all these veterans, I think …. the image of the stump feels fitting. They were wounded and grounded, they were strong in Europe…. The veterans of Korea, and Vietnam, and the Gulf Wars and the War on Terror, they came home to Falls Church and built the community we live in today.”

“All working to redeem the loss of those who did not come home, but whose names are on the plaque here at the Community Center. Memorial Day is a day to confront the fact that faith in our country is a ‘hard road.’ Our great strength as a free people is that we are free to question our government, to question the decisions by our leaders, when confronted by the hard costs of war. We are free to question our civic faith. And when we’re resolved to action, there is no more powerful force than a free people who have chosen their government…. A nation that has left behind its hatreds and said, ‘Send me.’ And for the families of those… who did not come, we’re here with you.”

“I’ll close by sharing a conversation I had with one of our volunteer Sheriff Deputies, Sonny Berry. Sonny’s been a volunteer with the Sheriff’s office for 20 years. He, like so many of our public safety personnel… they’re here at 5:00 o’clock in the morning getting ready for Memorial Day. But in our conversation in the hallway, he said that growing up in a military family, in their house it was hard to 'put down roots.' But then he found them here in Falls Church. And that’s why, he said, ‘I’ve been a volunteer all these years. It means so much to me.’ And he’s not alone. In this small city, over 10 percent of all households living here have an active or veteran service member living here. And to all the military families who give so much, I hope that you too find a home here in Falls Church City. Thank you.”

Photos of the Day

By Christopher Jones