Sometimes people forget the real meaning of Memorial Day. It isn’t about backyard barbecues, fun gatherings and cold beverages. Last Saturday, I discussed the role of Columbus in the history of Memorial Day. Thursday morning, I went to Columbus Air Force Base and experienced the real meaning of Memorial Day.
The base had a Memorial Day ceremony honoring the lives of Major Jeff Hoernemann and Major Luke Unrath, both of whom earned their wings at Columbus. They lost their lives two years ago in an Osprey aircraft crash off the coast of Japan. The ceremony also honored all fallen members of our armed services and especially those with a tie to Columbus Air Force Base. It was a very moving ceremony honoring those who had died while ensuring that we might remain safe and free.
The ceremony began with an invocation and the history of Memorial Day and its ties to Columbus. Wing Commander Colonel James Blech then spoke about the lives and careers of the two fallen officers who had been attached to Air Force Special Operations at Yokota Air Base in Japan. Their names were added on the memorial wall in front of Wing Headquarters. There was a playing of the National Anthem that carried across the base and then a moment of silence during which the names of other lost heroes were called out. The ceremony ended with an always poignant missing man formation flyover of T-38s. This was Memorial Day as it should be. A day to honor men and women whose supreme sacrifice leaves a debt a grateful nation can never fully repay.
I can’t go through a Memorial Day without thinking of Jessie “Red” Franks. I never knew Red Franks but feel like I did, as my father often talked about him. He was one of my father’s closest friends growing up in the years before World War II. Red’s father was pastor of First Baptist Church in Columbus and Red was popular, a born leader and had been student body president at Mississippi State.
When Pearl Harbor was attacked, Red was at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kentucky. He was studying to be a minister like his father. As a theology student, Red was exempt from the draft, but he knew what his duty was and enlisted in the Army Air Corps a few days after Pearl Harbor. He became a bombardier on a B-24 in the Air Corps and went to North Africa with a Liberator Squadron. On Aug. 1, 1943, he lost his life during an air assault on the Ploesti oil refineries in Romania.
The night before the raid he wrote home: “It will be the biggest and toughest raid yet … we will get our target at any cost. … Our planes are made for high altitude bombing but this time we are going in at 50 feet above our target. … I know that it will save many lives from the results, so any cost is worth it. So, Dad, remember that, and the cost, whatever it may be, was not in vain.”
Red’s heroism and story have survived. His photograph is included in the American Heritage History of World War II and his story is told in David Colley’s 2004 book, “Safely Rest.” His story was told to me by my father and is a story I have told before but is a story that needs repeating as it is a timeless story of the courage, heroism, and dedication of America’s servicemen and women.
Thursday morning at the air base, framed photos of Major Jeff Hoernemann and Major Luke Unrath were displayed on the plaza in front of Wing Headquarters. Looking at them I could not help but also think of Red and then all the other men and women who have given their lives for us.
Memorial Day is the day set aside to honor the men and women who gave their lives to preserve our freedom. Most of us will at some time this weekend relax while barbecuing with friends and family. There is nothing wrong with that, but we need to keep in mind those who cannot be with their friends and families as they made the supreme sacrifice so that we may be free to do so. Actually, those souls and all who have in the past and those who today serve and protect us should be remembered and thanked every day, not just on Memorial Day or Veterans Day.
Rufus Ward is a local historian.
Rufus Ward is a Columbus native a local historian. E-mail your questions about local history to Rufus at [email protected].
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