WEST BETHESDA, Md. –
WEST BETHESDA, Md. – The employees of Naval Surface
Warfare Center, Carderock Division honored fallen American service members with
a wreath-laying ceremony May 31.
NSWCCD Commanding Officer Capt. Richard Blank began the event
by talking about Memorial Day’s origins as Decoration Day and how the holiday became
what it is today. He then introduced retired U.S. Navy Chief Information
Systems Technician Kevin Mook, Veterans Employment Readiness Group (VERG)
chairman, who organized the ceremony.
“Yesterday, across this great nation, our citizens and
veterans gathered to pay homage to America’s finest men and women who gave
their lives in defense of freedom,” said Mook, who served in the Navy from
1982-2003. “Today, we want to honor those same men and women who selflessly
gave of themselves to protect the freedoms we enjoy in this country of ours.”
Operations Specialist 1st Class Nathan Holdorf and Yeoman
3rd Class Max Rosenkrantz, clad in service-dress white uniforms, rang a ship’s
bell while Mook explained the significance of the bell throughout naval
history.
“Certainly, this is the most appropriate time to honor
our departed,” Mook said. “The toll of the ship’s bell reminds us of the
reverence we owe our departed. To those who guard the honor of our country upon
the sea, in the air, on the ground and on foreign soil, let us be a reminder of
the faith they confide in us.”
Mook called for a moment of silence to honor the dead. He
then introduced the event’s guest speaker, Manpower, Personnel, Training and
Education Fleet Master Chief (AW/SW) April D. Beldo. Beldo, the first woman to
hold that billet, talked about visiting Arlington National Cemetery and
witnessing the Changing of the Guard with her brother, a Navy veteran, on
Memorial Day. Beldo talked about the pride she has felt in wearing the nation’s
cloth for 33 years, but also the obligation she feels it brings for her and other
service members and veterans to tell others about the sacrifice of these fallen
Sailors, Soldiers, Airmen, Coast Guardsmen and Marines.
“Not everybody is educated on what it means to pay the
ultimate sacrifice,” Beldo said. “It is our responsibility as veterans, as
members of the armed services and those who have family members serving, to
continue to educate others about why we do what we do every day. Only 1 percent
of the young men and women between the ages of 17 and 25 even meet the criteria
to join our armed forces. What about the other 99 percent? They just don’t
know.
“I do believe in my heart that we would not be enjoying
the freedoms that we do every day if it was not for those young men and women
who paid the ultimate sacrifice. We have some work to do and we do not want our
Airmen, Soldiers, Marines, Sailors, Coast Guardsmen work to go in vain, or
their suffering to go in vain. So I’d ask you to join me in making that
commitment.”
Blank and Beldo laid a wreath at the flagpole and Boy
Scouts Eric and Sean Grapin, the sons of Carderock employee Mark Grapin, played
taps to close the ceremony. The VERG served cake and refreshments at a program
after the ceremony with Beldo also speaking at that event.