photo by: Emma Delk

Moundsville residents Edward Littell, left, and Michael Pszczolkowski place their hats over their hearts during a Veterans Day ceremony on Monday outside the Marshall County Courthouse. Pszczolkowski accompanied Littell, a Vietnam War veteran, to the event.

MOUNDSVILLE — Words of patriotism and unity were shared from veterans both living and deceased in Marshall County on Monday.

Local veterans and community members gathered at the Veterans Memorial outside the county courthouse for the ceremony hosted by Magistrate Zachary Allman, a U.S. Army veteran.

The ceremony kicked off with a prelude by the Moundsville Middle School band. Allman then introduced the Moundsville Veterans Honor Guard, who presented the colors.

During his invocation, Allman reminded audience members a veteran’s service “does not end with the DD214,” the Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty.

“We make an oath to our country to serve and protect our country, people and our way of life,” Allman said. “It’s an oath that only ends when we do. We must continue to serve our communities.”

Allman then addressed the veterans in the crowd, noting they had to continue to preserve institutions such as the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S. and the American Legion. He said these organizations allow communities of veterans to “come together to share our brotherhood.”

“I see so many of our veterans here locally that go into our schools and talk to our children,” Allman added. “It is paramount in our community today to instill in them (children) that sense of pride, joy and selfless service in our country so they are ready to take that force of freedom into the future.”

Featured speaker Rosanna Keller, a Valley Hospice Inc. volunteer, shared words of wisdom from deceased veterans that she recorded while they were at the care facility through the Valley Hospice Living Legacy program. Keller producers laminated documents for Living Legacy with pictures and stories from local veterans in hospice care told by the veterans and their family members. Keller has produced over 30 of these documents in the past 13 years.

“These stories are written to capture these men and women who are near the end of their life and who have served so gallantly,” Keller said.

Keller shared the stories of three veterans who she believes represent “what’s best about America” during the ceremony: Benwood native Mike “Jaja” DiCrease, Moundsville native Frederick “Fred” Gersting and Mount Olivet native Henry Borchardt. All three subjects shared their stories with Keller when they had less than six months to live.

Keller said Borchardt had the “most challenging story.” The Korean War veteran was still haunted by calling the coordinates to bomb Korean villages with North Korean and Chinese soldiers inside of them.

“Henry knew the bombs he was calling in were also killing innocent women and children, and that was preying on his mind and what haunted him all those years,” Keller recalled. “Henry had written in his diary, ‘The U.S. sent us in to kill or to be killed.'”

Keller recalled asking Borchardt how many American soldiers would have been killed if he had not “done his job.” Borchardt responded that no one had ever asked him that question.

“I came home that night and told my husband I needed to write Henry’s story that night because I could tell he wasn’t going to live long,” Keller said. “I returned the next day, and as I read the story to Henry, with every paragraph, he’d raise his fist and say, ‘Yes, yes.'”

Borchardt’s request for Keller’s story was to add, “If the U.S. government officials can’t see an end to a war, then don’t start it in the first place.”

“I like to think that Henry Borchardt found some comfort in knowing that he mattered and that his actions possibly saved the lives of many American soldiers,” Keller said. “Interviewing these veterans who know they are dying has changed my life. They demonstrated for me how to live with purpose, responsibility and meaning, and how to die with dignity and honor and grace.”

The Moundsville Veterans Honor Guard closed the ceremony by retiring the colors, giving a 21-gun salute and playing “Taps.”