News : Vinton Legion holds Annual Memorial Day Service

Lt. Col. Constance Arens (Retired) addressed those gathered at the American Legion for Memorial Day

Ron Albright presents the Memorial Day Service

Table Set for One

The Vinton Legion George G. Luckey Post held their annual Memorial Day service at the Legion location.

The service began by singing the Star-Spangled Banner and reciting the Pledge of Allegiance followed by the Post recognizing each branch of the military with their branch song and the members rising as it was played.

Placing an empty chair in honor of the Prisoners of War and Missing in Action soldiers and placing a flag on it with the POW/MIA emblem on it, those present recognized those that have gone missing in action and those unaccounted for.

Ron Albright read the "Table for One."

'There was also a small table set for one, the table was small, symbolizing the frailty of one prisoner, alone against his or her suppressors.

The tablecloth white, symbolic of the purity of their intentions to respond to their country's call to arms.

The single red rose in the vase signified the blood they have shed in sacrifice to ensure the freedom of our beloved United States of America.

This rose also reminded us of the family and friends of our missing comrades who keep the faith while awaiting their return.

More pictures can be seen here. The yellow ribbon on the vase represents the yellow ribbons worn on the lapels of the thousands who demand, with unyielding

determination, a proper accounting of our comrades who are not among us tonight.

A slice of lemon on the plate reminds us of their bitter fate.

The salt sprinkled on the plate reminds us of the countless fallen tears of families as they wait.

The glass is inverted reminding us that they cannot toast with us they are not here at this time.

The chair is empty. They are not here.

The candle is reminiscent of the light of hope which lives in our hearts to illuminate their way home, away from their captors, to the open arms of a grateful nation.

Let us pray to the Supreme Commander that all of our comrades will soon be back within our ranks.

Let us remember and never forget their sacrifices.

May God forever watch over them and protect them and their families."

Following the recitation, Roger Uthoff introduced the speaker, Lt. Col. Constance M. Arens (Retired), reading her extensive bio (which can be seen in the photos above or on the Vinton Today Facebook page here). After hearing her bio read, she smiled and stepped to the podium and said, "After listening to all of that, you realize the years just come and go but when you put it down on paper it looks like a lot." She spoke about women in the military. She began by saying, "In every war, women have always been there for their fathers, their brothers, their spouses. She talked about in WWII on the farm, her grandmother rolled bandages, and Arens said that she was just fortunate enough to be able to raise her hand and serve. She served for 21 years.

Women started out as nurses she said, but after the Spanish-American War in 1901 that they recognized the Army Nurse Corp. Realizing that the nurses could be out close to the action and be able to nurse the wounded on the field, women began to serve in the field helping with the injured soldiers.

A 1968 graduate, she left home at age 17 at the time of the Vietnam War. She said that she always felt like there was something she should be doing for her great country.

Along with some friends, she moved to Cedar Rapids with kolaches and eggs from her family's farm to keep her and her friends fed while they searched for jobs. During this time, a recruiter came to their door. She passed all of the tests but her father refused to allow her to join the military. She said that he told her, "I love you, but you can't go to Vietnam."

So she married, had a family, and at age 39 another recruiter knocked on the door. This time she enlisted. At that time, she was part of a Combat Reserve Unit for the Army. The hospital was a large tent that they had to assemble their hospital at each location. She remembers one time they were trying to set it up during a windstorm. She recalls being told, "Hang on to the hospital!"

At Fort Hood, she said they were in support of 10,000 troops so they had a steady stream of soldiers to treat, many came in for heat exhaustion and minor injuries. She said it was so hot that the only time you'd see armadillos was at four in the morning. The unit would travel across the states to several stationary hospitals to give regular staff some time off. She said serving in the hospitals was different because they had all of the resources rather than being limited like they might be in a mobile hospital.

In 2006 she was deployed to Germany for 18 months along with 5 others to take care of soldiers that were injured in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the allies and contractors. Through tears, she shared her experiences taking care of the injured. She said these people had so much strength. Many amputees or other serious injuries came through her ward. They dubbed her the "angel with the flashlight." Joking that she thought it was because she pushed the morphine.

She said that they put all of the Marines in one ward so that they could share their experiences with each other and heal each other through talking about the experiences that they went through. At first, she said she wasn't used to the language coming from the Catholic Hospital, Mt. Mercy out of Cedar Rapids, she said that the f-word was flying around, but she soon became used to it, and she said, "They talked like they should."

There was also a Japanese soldier in her ward that had been shot in the lung and had a chest tube inserted. She said, "Every time I came into the ward, he would jump out of his bed and bow to me." She said that she knew it was very painful for him to do that, but she felt honored by that gesture.

She also had several celebrities who would visit the troops. One that she talked about was Cher. Many of the soldiers had no idea who Cher was. So she gave them a crash course on what Cher had done in her career. She set chairs up next to the bed for the star to sit in and talk to the soldiers as she visited, but she didn't use the chairs she said. "She just sat on the bed with them and visited." She said by the time she had left, the soldiers would never forget who Cher was.

She returned home in 2007, promoted to Lt. Colonel, then they retired her in 2010. She asked if they would reconsider because she wanted to stay in the Army. But the new position they gave her just wasn't the same.

She is now in nursing as an RN at Mt. Mercy in Cedar Rapids.

She also lends her services to the Honor Flights and encourages veterans to apply for a trip to Washington D.C. To find an application, click here. There will be one flight in September and two in October.

Following Lt. Colonel Arens' presentation, there was a gun salute followed by the playing of Taps.

The POW/MIA flag was removed from the empty chair, and the service ended in prayer by Roger Uthoff.

More pictures can be seen here.