Tupper Lake honors the fallen at Memorial Day observance

by Dan McClelland

It was a sunny day but the mercury was only hovering in the 40s. Over 100 local residents, however, came out Monday morning to the Veterans' Park on Park Street to honor the fallen during another very patriotic Memorial Day event.

This year was a return to full observance after an abbreviated event during the COVID-19 pandemic last year. Only a few in the crowd sported masks.

Assembled as always were the seven or so members of the Tupper Lake Honor Guard and two dozen members of the Tupper Lake High School Band, under the direction of Laura Davison. The 20-strong band included a few guests, who included Laura's husband Wayne, their daughter Kendall and her cousin Annachristi Cordes, both band alumna.

The band entertained the crowd in glorious fashion with the performance of a half dozen of so patriotic tunes, including a medley of the anthems of the various arms of the military. The playing of “Taps” was performed by Lowden Pratt.

There was a new master of ceremonies this year doing a job generally done by Memorial Day and Veterans Day MC Mark Moeller, who continues to be a major behind the scenes organizer. This year's MC was Terry Tubridy, commander of the Marine Corp. League Adirondack Leathernecks.

This year's event also featured both the opening and closing prayers by the same person- the Rev. Rick Wilburn, pastor of Tupper Lake Baptist Chapel. The minister filled in for James Ellis, who normally delivers one of the prayers but who was out of town Monday.

There were no boy scouts present this year to lead the crowd in the Pledge of Allegiance, so Honor Guard Commander Mike Larabie led the crowd in the patriotic pledge.

The guard also opened the ceremonies, as the band played the national anthem. Later the guard performed the firing of three volleys, in honor of the fallen.

This year's guest speaker was SFC Mike Fouse, an Afghanistan war veteran who was one of the first special forces soldiers deployed in that country after 9-11.

Originally from Pennsylvania, SFC Fouse currently resides in Malone. His daughter accompanied to Monday's event.

MC Tubridy said SFC Fouse's father was a marine and as such the family lived all around the country.

The retired special forces soldier opened with a joke involving his enrollment in the U.S. Army and the rivalries between those who serve in the various arms of the armed services.

“As Terry mentioned my father was in the Marine Corp.” He said on the day he went to enlist in the military, after the tests and the physicals, he returned home that evening. When he got home his dad inquired how the day's events were, to which Michael told him he tried to enlist in the Marine Corp. but failed the physical.

“He looked at me and said 'you failed the physical...how can that be as you were a college athlete and you failed the physical?'”

“I told him, yeah, I could fit my head in the jar!”

“He promptly looked up at me (my father was about five foot, five in height), pointed at the door and said 'get out!'”

“Being the wise person I was, I left, not wanting to raise the ire of the little Marine!”

His joke brought laughter but some groans from Marine veterans in the audience that morning.

SFC Fouse told the crowd he was honored to have been asked to speak at this annual event that honors the fallen.

“Thirty years ago America engaged in a new war in a volatile region. Iraq had invaded the sovereign nation of Kuwait.

“It was active aggression that could not stand. The United States led a coalition of 35 nations with a bold and clear mission to liberate an occupied country. Among the half million U.S. troops deployed to the middle was army specialist Cindy Beaudoin, a freshman at the University of Connecticut. She had enlisted in the U.S. National Guard as a medic in the 42nd medical company.

“The Hartford Courant reported that the young specialist had a chronic back problem and that she could have gotten out of the deployment.

“Cindy, the daughter of a Vietnam War veteran, wouldn't hear any of that. 'I've course I'm going, silly. I couldn't let my best buddy go off alone,” she told a friend and fellow service member.

“On February 28, 1991, just hours after President George Bush declared a cease fire to end the Gulf War, Specialist Cindy Beaudoin was killed in action when her convoy struck a land mine. She was 19 years old!”

He said like many service men and women going off to war, she wrote a letter to be delivered to her parents should she not return. He said in it she wrote: “ I'd come here to be a hero. I came here because my country needed me to be here. As much as I hate being so far away from home, I'm here with thousands of other soldiers helping to bring down a very deranged tyrant. If I should die while helping to achieve this, then I didn't die in vain.”

He said Cindy did not die in vain; neither did the other Americans who we honor here today on Memorial Day.

“Nonetheless, wars are often unpopular. There's a good reason for this. It was Union General Sherman who said 'it is only those who have neither fired a shot, nor hurt the shrieks and the groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, more vengeance, more desolation. War is quite literally hell!'”

“We should always remember that the decisions leading to war are those of the policy-makers, not the veterans themselves.

“Sometimes the missions are clear cut! In World War II millions were liberated and truly evil regimes were toppled. Other times the missions will have the clarity of a fog-shrouded forest on a dark night. The price can still be unbelievably painful, as Emma and Willy Lieberwich experienced.”

He said the Jewish couple fled Nazi Germany for New York City with their two young sons in 1938. Seven years later Ferdy and Albert Leiberwich made the ultimate sacrifice for their new country fighting against the Germans in Europe.

“In his book, Brothers in Arms, author Kevin Callahan noted: 'the memory of those two brothers who escaped Nazi Germany only to perish in its destruction lives on!'”

“-And that's why we're here today! To recall not just the memories of Cindy Beaudoin and the Leiberwich brothers but to honor the sacrifices made by one million heroes who died while defending this country since the American Revolution.

“That sacrifice is painfully shared by the Gold Star families and close friends to these heroes.

“Most of us will not truly understand the depths of their despair unless we've experienced it ourselves. But we can always offer our support, we can wear the poppy, we can place flags and wreaths, such as we're doing today; we can donate to charities that provide for the families and we look at their surviving brothers and sisters in arms and say: 'thank you for your service.'”

“Organizations nationwide like the American Legion, the VFW, the Amvets, the DAV...they recognize that when rounds are coming your way, there is no such thing as 'a small war.'”

More than 1,600 Americans have lost their lives fighting in covert operations and cold war battles that occurred between the designated war periods since Pearl Harbor.

“We honor their sacrifices much as we honor those we lost on Iwo Jima or upon the frozen, chosen reservoir.

“We're here today to honor all our fallen heroes,” he said, naming many places where wars have been fought.

“The locations are unimportant. It is in the hearts of these men and women that truly matters. It is the devotion within that led them to sacrifice their lives for a country we all love!

“As Specialist Beaudoin wrote here parents: 'when you start to miss me, look inside your heart and you'll find me!'”

“We should all look in our hearts. We may not find our heroes. But we can examine what type of country we live in. No matter what critics say about America, can a nation that produces such remarkable men and women, be anything but a force for good!

“Can we do more to create a country that is worth such sacrifice? Can we insist that our policy-makers always consider the true cost of their decisions? -And only send men and women to war when all other options have been exhausted. War is often not the best policy, but the heroes that those wars produce, are the best of America!”

Following the address Mr. Tubridy took the microphone and announced that wreaths were to be presented to the monument by local girl scouts, the Red Hat Society, Knights of Columbus, Council 2177, the Village of Tupper Lake, the Town of Tupper Lake, the Tupper Lake Honor Guard, employees and resident of Sunmount DDSO, Tupper Lake Central School District, Tupper Lake Volunteer Fire Department, American Legion Post 220, Veterans of Foreign Wars post 3120, Adirondack Leathernecks No. 1268 Marine Corp. League, Amvets Post 710.

After a rousing medley of service songs, Mr. Tubridy called American Legion Commander Mark Moeller to the podium to talk about a subject near and dear to veterans here and all across the country.

“First of all I would like to thank the high school band. The band comes out each year to every ceremony at the Veterans' Park- rain or shine. Please give them another round of applause,” which the crowd did in robust fashion.

He also pointed to the landscape remodeling of the park in recent days by volunteers including Brent Cooke, Mary Kay Kucipeck and Usher Farms, which donated all the new plants and flowers.

He also thanked that day's guest speaker. “Michael didn't talk about himself, but I will. If you look at Michael's uniform you'll see the green beret of our special forces, you'll see the combat infantry badge, three bronze stars, a V-device for valor. Michael was one of the first soldiers into Afghanistan after 9-11. When he talked about the exemplary soldiers, men and women who serve in our armed forces today, Michael was not bragging about himself. But I will.

“He was one of those exemplary soldiers, an American hero. We thank you, Michael, for your service!”

More loud applause.

“Michael is here today with his daughter, who should be very proud of her father. He said SFC Fouse continues to help veterans today at Homeward Bound retreats where veterans come up for weekend retreats to relax in the Adirondacks and to help them deal with the invisible wounds of war like PTSD.

Commander Moeller reported that the local chapter recently purchased 100 acres near Lake Titus and will soon start building a retreat center of its own.

To build the new center the chapter volunteers have started a capital campaign. “I wouldn't make a commercial announcement on Memorial Day if it weren't for helping soldiers.”

He said a raffle is currently underway at Shaheen's Supermarket where the grand prize is $400 in groceries. Tickets are $20.

“I want to thank Shaheen's Supermarket as it generously donated the $400 in groceries that we were planning to pay for from our ticket sales. The people at Shaheen's are always great to our veterans!”

He offered to stay after the ceremony to sell tickets to anyone who wants them.

After Rev. Wilburn conducted the closing prayer, Mr. Tubridy extended an invitation for everyone to join them at the VFW post for refreshments.