Remembering Our Heroes

Approximately 120 people gathered at the Villa, located on Davis Blvd. in East Naples, on Monday afternoon to commemorate Memorial Day. Villa is the memory unit at Terracina Grand, an independent and assisted living facility in East Naples, and all the residents there, not to mention their family members, are dealing with cognitive issues such as Alzheimer’s disease. 

 The Palmetto Ridge High School JROTC Honor Guard presented the colors to open the ceremonies, with the cadets carrying flags and rifles marching beneath a corridor of raised sabers held by members of their unit. 

Capt. Stanley Bunner, a Naples attorney while also on active reserve duty in the US Navy, acted as master of ceremonies. The Star Spangled Banner, notoriously a difficult number to sing, was handled with aplomb and flourishes by soloist Elmarie Guillaume, who also performed “God Bless America.”

After the National Anthem, an invocation by Rev. Michael Orsi of St. Agnes Catholic Church, and the Pledge of Allegiance, delivered by Roger Williamson, formerly a lieutenant in the US Army and author of “Letters to Mom from Nam: Memoirs of a Vietnam Veteran,” US Army veteran Richard Cox of Rolling Thunder Chapter 5,  explained the significance of the Missing Man Table. Commemorating POWs and MIAs, it symbolizes unfinished business and the importance of not forgetting those service members held in captivity or still listed as missing in action. 

Air Force veteran and retired deputy director of the Collier Sheriff’s Office Timothy Guerrette delivered the keynote address, followed by Dr. Steve Wener, a physician with the VA in Lee County and a coordinator of Collier-Lee Honor Flights. 

Members of the Marine Corps League of Naples, E.T. Brisson Detachment #063, performed the Folding Flag Ceremony. Jack Wagner, commander of the Bert Kurland chapter 696 of MOPH, the Military Order of the Purple Heart, gave graphic testimony of the reality of being wounded in Vietnam and the medical aftermath.

To close the ceremony, piper and Marine Corps veteran Don Goller performed a rendition of the wistful lament “Danny Boy” on the bagpipes. Then, the assemblage trouped outside to witness a commemorative flyover by a World War II trainer flown by USAF veteran Major Jessica Sterns. 

While she did not take a speaking role in the program, the driving force behind the event was Villa’s life enrichment director, Julie Badour. Herself a Marine Corps veteran, Badour wanted to take the opportunity presented by Memorial Day to thank the veterans residing at the Villa and all military vets, one more time for their service to our country.

A service commemorating fallen service members was also held Monday morning at Naples Memorial Garden by the Collier County Veterans Council, with a musical introduction from the Pine Ridge Middle School Symphonic Band, a Sheriff’s Office honor guard, musical soloists, and speakers including Chief William Carl, retired from the Coast Guard, who is president of the Collier County Veterans Council.