Author’s Note: I have been honored to be asked to speak in Coventry, New York this Sunday, October 16, 2005 at 2:00 PM. There will be a dedication of a Civil War veteran's grave which was, until recently, unmarked and his record unknown.
CIVIL WAR GRAVE DEDICATION ADDRESS
(An Address by Fred B. Baker, II made on October 16, 2005)
As we presently have our youth engaged in yet another conflict, I would like to begin by reciting a prayer I learned from the flag ceremony of the Pennsylvania Freemasons.
"Oh Eternal God, through Whose mighty power our fathers won their liberties of old, grant we beseech Thee that we, and all the people of the land, may with loyalty and fidelity and courage maintain these liberties. Protect and assist all who are serving their country, at home or abroad, by land, by sea and in the air that they being armed with Thy defense may be preserved in all perils. And being filled with wisdom and girded with strength may do their duty to Thy honor and glory. Amen"
Thank you for allowing me a few words on this auspicious day. I have been invited here today, not because I am a student of the history of the war between the Union and Confederacy, which I am not, nor because I have a history with this brave fallen soldier, which again, I do not. Rather, it is because as a Viet Nam veteran my generation came home to an atmosphere and attitude foreign to the citizenry of today. We were reviled, spat upon and hated. As such, over time, we forged a resolve that, as long as one us remained alive, never again would our veterans be subjected to such revulsion, never again would they receive less of the honor they deserved. To all who serve presently, or in the past, we convey a resounding "Welcome home." To this young soldier, who gave his all for our great land, who has lain in a grave hallowed only by his sacrifice, who paid the ultimate for fulfilling his duty and whose sacrifice was known only to God, I am here to say "Welcome home."
Over 150 years ago, this young man and thousands like him answered a question. Today, that answer is part of our Pledge of Allegiance to the flag, "To the Republic, for which it stands, one nation under God."
As I am but a simple man of humble beginnings, I lack the eloquence of my predecessors, such as Captain A. Frank Seltzer, who at the dedication of the monument the 115th Regiment Infantry on September 12, 1889, said in part, "The sufferings, the dangers, the privations, the agonizing feelings are only written on the hearts of those who participated. These things no monument can tell, no tongue convey, no history recount. They have a language of their own. There is an ever-living monument, which stands engraved upon the heart of every loyal citizen, and is enshrined in the tears and sighs of thousands of tender and loyal mothers, sisters, and daughters.
"Many of those who belonged to our number sleep their last sleep in far-away graves; many of them in a soil that was unfriendly to them; and to whom was denied even much as a simple stone to mark their last resting place. Their graves were dug amid fierce and terrible exigencies of grim and cruel war, where no loving hand could deck their silent tombs. Only the gentle breezes and whispering winds are sighing a mournful dirge over them. Let us, therefore, who are yet alive, the more tenderly cherish the friendship of one another, and so live for one another and for our beloved country that we bring no reproach upon our fair fame and name, so, that in after years, when the shadows lengthening over the landscape of existence, and when memory, like the seamed and fluted boughs of some old forest oak, opens to a passing breeze, we may ever hold in our hearts the recollection of duty well done to our country and our comrades."
Welcome home my brother. (Salute) May God bless all of you all and God bless these United States. Thank you.