OCR Text |
Show Gunnison Pays Tribute To Dead -:- ALVIN PETERSON -: -:- REX ERICKSON -!- -:- JESSIE CHRISTENSEN -:- ALVIN CARLSON -:- Graves of the departed heroes, including in-cluding Alvin Peterson, Rex Erick-son, Erick-son, jesse Christensen and' Alvin Carlson, were decorated and appropriate appro-priate exercises, in keeping with customary cus-tomary military rules, were held Memorial Day in Gunnison. The exercises ex-ercises were under the auspices of Gunnison Guard Mount, Post 104, American Legion, and were most impressive. im-pressive. At nine o'clock Memorail Day morning the Gunnison band gave a number of selections and following short exercises were held at the high school-building. Sidney Baxter, commanding com-manding officer of the local legion, presided, and after a short reading, Bert Bigler formally opened the services ser-vices with prayer. "America, My Country," was beautifully rendered by a selected quartet. The Gunnison Glee club gave a selection and responded re-sponded to an encore. Mayor J. W. Jones, who gave the address of the day, paid a warm tribute tri-bute to the soldier boys who had given their lives for the freedom of their country. Starting out with a historical review of the great wars, Mayor Jones gave a 'brief sketch of the great events and led his hearers from the early time to the end of the big conflict a few years ago. He pictured pic-tured the suffering and privations and the lives that were lost All given giv-en for the freedom of America. The late war, said the speaker, was for principle and peace and not for gain and though many paid the supreme sacrifice, we must all be grateful to the boys who fought for our liberty. And to those who gave their lives the highest reverence is this day being be-ing said with fervent prayers. Before closing his address Mayor Jones asked the audience to stand for thirty seconds with bowed heads and offer a prayer for the soldiers who gave their lives for us. Four gold stars were given to the surviving parents of the boys from Gunnison who died while in the service, ser-vice, and signing the charter for this were Mrs. Millie Christensen, Mrs. Niels Peterson, L. H. Erickson and Niels Lund. Following this ceremony, the audience audi-ence joined in singing "America." after which benediction was pronounced pro-nounced by Chaplain Bigler. The members of the Gunnison Legion Le-gion formed a line for the parade to the cemetery. Following the legion members were members of the Auxiliary, Aux-iliary, the band and civilians. The ceremonies at the cemetery were carried out in strict military style. Taps were sounded at each of the "-raves of the fallen heroes, followed fol-lowed by the military salute by the firing squad. The graves were decorated de-corated with flowers by members of the auxiliary. Not , alone was due respect paid for the boys who died in the late world war, but members of the Black Hawk and Indian wars, who sleep in the city cemetery, were paid tribute by the legion members. |