State Rep. Brent Jacobson was the key speaker at the May 26 Memorial Day tribute event at Veterans Memorial Park in Iola, which attracted several hundred people.

The event was preceded by the traditional Memorial Day parade through downtown Iola. Members of the Sheveland-Taylor Post 14 American Legion carried the flags and were followed by a few classic vehicles, the Iola-Scandinavia High School Band, and tractors. A police squad led the parade, and a fire engine was the last vehicle.

During the event, Iola-Scandinavia area veterans were recognized for their service, and those who died in war were given special attention. Lyle Mork, who spearheaded the Iola Memorial area, was given special recognition as he had recently passed away.

Below is the transcript of the speech delivered by State Rep. Brent Jacobson, who represents the Iola-Scandinavia area in the state Assembly.

I want to sincerely thank you for inviting me to join you here today on this day of remembrance. Today, we remember and mourn the loss of our fellow countrymen and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice in defense of the freedoms we cherish.

Each day we can enjoy the freedom of speech, religion, and even to assemble here on this day because blood was shed to preserve those freedoms on soil and in waters throughout the world.  From Bunker Hill to Baghdad, from the waters of the Pacific to the beaches of Normandy, from the trenches of WWI to the jungles of Vietnam, American men and women have so strongly cherished our independence that they have laid down their own lives for it.  

Hundreds of thousands lie at rest in Arlington Cemetery.  Tens of thousands of names line the Vietnam Wall.  Hundreds remain entombed in Pearl Harbor.  What they and so many others left behind was their opportunity to further enjoy America’s freedoms so others could.  They left behind widows, sons, daughters, mothers, and fathers. 

How to begin to even grasp such a sacrifice is perhaps best felt in Abraham Lincoln’s letter to a mother of five sons written many years ago.

Dear Madam,

I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle.

I feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering to you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save.

I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of Freedom.

Yours, very sincerely and respectfully,
A. Lincoln.

We can never repay these heroes for a debt so great; we can, however, remember their sacrifice, not just on this day because it is Memorial Day, but on every day.  On each day, we must remember that our tranquility at home, peace abroad, our safety, our prosperity, and the very liberty we so highly value are in their memory. With slight shades of difference, they fought in a common cause.

Photolog of the event