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U.S. Army Veteran Nikki Davis provides a brief smile during a heartfelt Memorial Day address Monday.
As a child and even a teenager, Nikki Davis never truly grasped the concept of what Memorial Day meant.
Like many people, the Ripon resident saw it as another three-day weekend.
But now, as a U.S. Army combat veteran, she noted it is one of the hardest days of the year for her.
“I mourn for the loss of my brothers and sisters who paid the ultimate price,” she said. “I mourn for their families who’ve lost someone they love. And I mourn for those of us who carry the weight of coming home without them.”
Davis, who served as the keynote speaker during Ripon’s Memorial Day program Monday morning, reflected on what she called “one of the most memorable and humbling Memorial Day speeches ever given.”
It was delivered by Lt. Gen. Lucian Truscott Jr. on May 30, 1945, and after he took to the stage in Italy, she noted he turned his back to the audience to speak directly to the nearly 20,000 American troops that were buried behind the stage, apologized to his fallen and requested the impossible: he asked his fallen troops to forgive him.
“Many of us who have lost brothers and sisters in arms feel a tremendous weight of that request,” Davis said. “We experienced that guilt and grief daily. We wonder who they’d be today and what this world would be like if they were still in it. We do our best to honor their memories, to continue with our lives and attempt to be people they would be proud of.”
She then made her own requests to those gathered for the ceremony, asking them to honor and remember the fallen.
“Please take time out of your day to raise a toast or say a prayer to the troops we honor here today,” Davis said. “And to our fallen, I want to say that I’m sorry. I am sorry you cannot be here with us today. And I am sorry that our efforts to keep you here weren’t enough. I thank you for paying the ultimate price for each and every one of us. And until we meet again in Valhalla, please know we carry you with us every day and your sacrifices will not be forgotten.”
The Memorial Day program also featured an invocation and closing prayer by Ripon Baptist Church Rev. Josh Sherman; readings from “America’s Answer,” Abraham Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address” and “In Flanders Fields” from Ripon High School students Caroline Reabe, Sam Krueger and Hayden Durovy-Meeker; musical selections played by the Ripon High School and middle school bands, with Taps being performed by Grace Retzlaff and Ava Sprader; a parade down Watson Street to Hillside Cemetery; a wreath laying Ripon Girl Scouts; flag raising by the Ripon Boy Scouts; and a 21-gun salute by the Ripon American Legion Honor Guard.
The program was hosted by the local Veterans of Foreign Wars and Ripon American Legion posts, with Mark Krause serving as the emcee.
