Legion riders remember fallen veterans during annual event Sunday

During Sunday’s first of five wreath-laying ceremonies at St. Mary Parish veterans’ memorials, Edward Perot, commander of American Legion Riders Post 328 in Pierre Part, took a few minutes to explain two flags present.
First, he explained the Killed in Action flag before proceeding to the Prisoner of War/Missing In Action flag during the ceremony at the Fallen Warriors Memorial in Morgan City.
While he never mentioned it during the brief ceremony, Memorial Day’s importance is magnified even more so for him.
His father, Army 1st Lt. Larry Douglas Green, left to fight for American in the Vietnam War.
“My dad went to Vietnam, and he never made it back (alive),” Perot said, while coincidentally holding the Killed in Action Flag prior to the second ceremony of the day at the Berwick Civic Complex. “So I really pay a lot of homage to what we do here.”
The Killed in Action flag, Perot said, “means a lot to me.”
While many think of Memorial Day as a celebration, Berwick Mayor Duval Arthur posed a question to that notion.
“What are you celebrating? Most of them have not a clue what Memorial Day even stands for,” Arthur said. “They get confused about Veterans Day and about Memorial Day. (They) don’t really know what it is, but there’s certainly a difference.”
Arthur, who served 32 years in the Army before retiring as a sergeant major, said Memorial Day is a day to honor those lost serving in battle.
“They’re not here today to celebrate with us,” he said, adding those alive can celebrate them and what their sacrifices provided Americans the freedoms to do.
According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Memorial Day was first celebrated as Decoration Day in honor of Civil War servicemen who died.
While the department said there is much debate over where the idea for the event began, in 1966, Waterloo, New York, was deemed the origin of Memorial Day by Congress and then-President Lyndon Johnson. One hundred years earlier on May 5, 1866, area Civil War veterans were honored. In accordance with the day, businesses were closed, and residents lowered their flags to half-staff.
After World War I, the celebration began including those who died in all American wars, and Congress decreed it a national holiday in 1971, the department said. The move by Congress also set the holiday for the final Monday of May.
“I escaped a lot of things,” Arthur told the group gathered in Berwick for their wreath-laying ceremony. “I got all my fingers, got all my toes. A lot of people weren’t so lucky. A lot of people weren’t so lucky, and some left a little bit. Some left everything.”
According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, about 1.19 million military personnel lost their lives in wars from 1775-1991.
More recently, the U.S. Department of Defense reported that 7,057 combined lives have been lost in Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation New Dawn, Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Inherent Resolve and Operation Freedom’s Sentinel, as of its May 24 update of data.
According to Troy LaRive, commander of W.L. Bernauer Jr. American Legion Post 242 in Patterson, a combined 107 military personnel who were St. Mary Parish residents were killed in action in World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and Operation Iraqi Freedom. He and the post’s 1st Vice Commander, Kenneth Lodrigue, read the names of those who died during a separate ceremony that is available to watch at youtube.com/watch?v=fHvNj3dmTpQ. The names of the fallen St. Mary Parish military members are listed on a war memorial in front of the post where Patterson’s wreath-laying ceremony was held.
Sunday’s wreath-laying ceremonies marked the 19th year the event was held. While there was initially some hesitation about holding the freedom ride a year ago due to the COVID-19 pandemic, those involved in the event said it must go on.
“And socially distancing is perfect on bikes, so it worked out pretty good last year,” Perot said.
The Legion Ride was the idea of Rowena “Roe” Rosen, who had lost a nephew in military service. She approached her husband, George “Cowboy” Rosen, about it, and he met with Abby Verret.
“Cowboy and I just assisted her, made her in charge of everything every year, and it started getting bigger and bigger,” Verret said after Sunday’s ceremony in Berwick.
While the Rosens have passed away, the event they helped start lives on.
Sunday’s event concluded with a plate lunch dinner, a band and more in Morgan City.
“But still, this part is the real important part where we say the prayers and the speeches …. and get veterans who get up and speak as well,” Perot said.