Community pays tribute to veterans, fallen soldiers at Perry Heroes Remembrance Ceremony
PERRY TWP. — It's important to Perry Township Rotary President Steve Toohey that people remember that Memorial Day is not just a long weekend, and is certainly not a celebration.
"It's so hard to get people to understand that Veterans Day is for veterans. Memorial Day is for the deceased," Toohey said. "We always try to remind people, it's not 'have a happy Memorial Day.' There's nothing happy about Memorial Day. It's a time of remembrance, reflection and honor."
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That's why, since 2012, he's worked to host events and put up displays that remind the Perry Township community of those who served and were lost through an organization he created, called Operation Flags of Freedom.
On Saturday, Operation Flags of Freedom and Perry Township Rotary hosted the 9th Annual Heroes Remembrance Ceremony at Perry High School, honoring the hometown heroes who died in the line of duty, as well as the families left behind.
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The event included a performance by country artist Ricky Lee, a keynote address from Bill Shearer, owner of Whispering Grace Horses and Freedom Farm, a 21-gun salute and the usual reading of names and prayers.
Between 1966 and 2011, Toohey said, 11 Perry graduates have died while in service. His own activism around Memorial Day and honoring fallen soldiers began after the death of U.S. Marine Sgt. Daniel Patron, who was killed in Afghanistan on Aug. 6, 2011.
Toohey said it wasn't until the death of Patron, who Toohey's daughter had dated while the two were in high school in the early 2000s, that Memorial Day and the importance of honoring veterans hit home for him.
"Danny was pretty much loved by everybody in this community," Toohey said. "He always had a smile on his face and always had laughter in his heart. He was just that kind of kid."
Perry Rotary announces Streets of Honor project
During the ceremony, Perry Township Rotary member Ashley Escola announced the club's new Streets of Honor initiative, which looks to place banners honoring fallen soldiers along stretches of roadway in the township.
The initiative is separate from, though similar to, Massillon's recent banner installation along Lincoln Way, and organizers hope to hang their banners on Genoa Avenue and 13th Street.
Escola's brother, U.S. Marine Sgt. Tyson Snyder, was killed in a civilian helicopter crash in 2018. Since then, she's made it a mission to honor her brother and all servicemembers with neighborhood flag displays, and now with the Streets of Honor project.
On Saturday, she recounted the memory of her brother's funeral, following the hearse from the funeral home to the Ohio Western Reserve National Cemetery.
"I'm suddenly distracted by bright, vibrant moving colors: our colors. Red, white, and blue. American flags were lined around the funeral home and down the street. They were surrounding us," she said through soft tears.
"I decided then that I was going to preserve and replicate these very acts for other veterans, because they deserve the same."
Veteran deaths by suicide also remembered
Memorial Day specifically honors those who died in active military service. This year, Toohey wanted to expand the remembrance somewhat, to include in some way those veterans who died by suicide.
"Suicide is always taboo," he said. "Nobody wants to talk about it.
Tucked away from the main ceremony area was a display of 154 boots, representing one week – or 22 per day – of veteran deaths by suicide. Toohey was intentional with the display, checking in with families first and recognizing that the losses faced by those who lose a loved one to combat and those who lose a loved one to suicide are different, and shouldn't be conflated.
"I think about the guys who came back from Vietnam with Agent Orange, think about men and women come back minus limbs, and you think about the men and women come back with a messed-up mind," Toohey said. "They're all casualties."
Saturday's event kicked off the weekend of remembrance activities for Operation Flags of Freedom, which will include flag placement on veteran graves on Sunday at 9 a.m. at Calvary Cemetery and the Heroes 5K, which takes place at Perry High School starting 8:30 a.m. Monday.
Sam Zern can be reached at szern@cantonrep.com or 330-580-8322. You can also find her on Twitter at @sam_zern.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Perry Memorial Day ceremony honors those killed in combat, by suicide
