Cannon fire and muskets mark Memorial Day at Civil War-era service
The boom of cannon fire rolled across Milwaukee on Monday.
The thundering sound signaled danger and death to those who heard it on the battlefield. More than 150 years later, it's become a sound of honor and remembrance.
"We should never forget the sacrifices that were made by the veterans of all of our wars," said Deacon Dean J. Collins, wearing a Union Army blue uniform.
"The liberties and the great life we live is the reward of all those people who sacrificed their lives in the armed forces," he said.
About 250 Civil War veterans, including two Medal of Honor recipients, are buried at Calvary Cemetery, where a Civil War Memorial Day service took place Monday morning. Nearly 700 other Civil War graves are located at Wood National Cemetery, just south of Calvary.
The event was sponsored by the C.K. Pier Badger Camp #1 of Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War and its Auxiliary.
Last year, the group secured funding to place a historic marker for Civil War veterans buried at Forest Home Cemetery and is working to do the same at Calvary, said Collins, who is retired from the Milwaukee and Brookfield police departments.
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The observance began with an outdoor Mass celebrated by Archbishop Jerome Listecki, who served as a chaplain in the U.S. Army Reserves for 20 years and retired as a lieutenant colonel.
The service was followed by a ceremony with musket and rifle salutes and a performance from the 1st Brigade Band. The band dates to 1864 when 18 men from the Brodhead Brass Band in southern Wisconsin enlisted in the Union Army.
Remembering those who served
Jon Christensen, a Vietnam veteran and therapist at the Milwaukee Vet Center, spoke of volunteer warriors who returned to their communities and those who could not because they made the ultimate sacrifice.
"When I woke up this morning, I had a feeling that I have very, very often," said Christensen, his voice carrying over the wind. "That I was not going to come here alone."
The remembrance drew more than 100 people to the cemetery, including Patricia Safavi of Wauwatosa.
Safavi, whose grandfather and father served in World War I and World War II, respectively, said she appreciated how veterans of all wars were honored.
Her daughter, Sahar, also found the event moving.
"I loved it," she said. "I think it was really important to do something that's in memorial for Memorial Day."