Keynote address, wife’s published remembrance of area vet killed in Iraq highlight powerfully emotional Memorial Day here

The threat of rain, even thunderstorms for late morning to early afternoon in Front Royal, was replaced by sporadic sprinkles throughout Monday’s Memorial Day Commemoration of America’s servicemen and women who have given their lives in the struggle to preserve liberty and freedom for our nation and its allies around the world.

At the bagpipes, lower right, Jim Lundt calls the gathering crowd in, some umbrellas in tow, for the noon beginning of the Memorial Day ceremony of remembrance of the fallen. – Royal Examiner Still Photos Roger Bianchini, Video Mark Williams

Those raindrops falling on the cheeks of attendees may have provided a service in hiding tears forming in reaction to former U.S. Navy SEAL Lt. Commander Sean Glass’s stirringly emotional keynote address. While Lt. Commander Glass survived tours of duty in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Eastern Africa, all he served with did not.

Or those raindrops could have been in service on stray cheeks later at Malcolm Barr Sr.’s reading of the published recollections of the wife, Sarah Cerri Cowherd, of fallen soldier Leonard Cowherd of Culpeper, a graduate not only of West Point but also nearby Wakefield Country Day School. Second Lieutenant Cowherd was killed in May of 2004 in Karbala, Iraq, leaving behind his wife of less than a year.

Her published recollection of receiving various belongings of her late husbands from the front provided a painful portrait, as had Lt. Commander Glass’s earlier remarks, of the void left behind in the lives of the living in the wake of the loss of those we gather on Memorial Day to pay homage to.

Memorial Day Co-Chairmen Rob McDougall and ‘Skip’ Rogers also alluded to the more solemn nature of this federal holiday, tied as it is to the ultimate sacrifice of one’s life in defense of others.

Keynote speaker Lt. Commander Glass also challenged us all not to become complacent with the freedoms that endure at home because of the sacrifices of the nation’s fallen. Glass urged, even challenged us to live lives worthy of those sacrifices, rather than fall into thoughtless self-centeredness in our personal interactions with loved ones and others we encounter in our day-to-day lives.

It was an emotional recollection and even a challenge by Lt. Commander Sean Glass to us all to be worthy of the sacrifice of the fallen soldiers to preserve the American ideals of freedom and opportunity for all citizens. Below, Malcolm Barr Sr. read the published account of widow Sarah Cerri Cowherd of dealing with the 2004 death of her husband of less than a year, Leonard Cowherd of Culpeper in Iraq.

Co-Chairman Robert McDougall, U.S. Marine Reserves, launched the ceremony at noon, Monday, May 29th, at its traditional location on the historic Warren County Courthouse grounds. McDougall acknowledged town and county public officials present, among others.

Accompanying McDougall in presenting this community’s once-again annual remembrance of its and the nation’s fallen heroes were:
Color Guard from Randolph-Macon Academy comprised of Cadets Jay Haney, Cole Solinger, Kamila Yusupova, and Mateo Wohnig, with R-MA Chief Master Sgt. Ken Evans present;

Flanked by Co-Chair Rob McDougall and keynote speaker former Navy Lt. Commander Sean Glass, the R-MA color guard pose here post-event. The R-MA cadets presented the colors to begin Memorial Day ceremonies and helped with the presentation of the wreath of remembrance. Below, sisters Grace, Lainey, and Ella Clark led the singing of the national anthem.

sisters Grace, Lainey, and Ella Clark, who beautifully led the singing of the National Anthem;  event Co-Chairman ‘Skip’ Rogers, U.S. Army retired; keynote speaker, former U.S. Navy SEAL Lt. Commander Sean Glass; retired Navy Chaplain Father Michael Duesterhaus, currently of St. John the Baptist Catholic Church;

At ease, guys – left to right, Memorial Day Commemoration Co-Chairs ‘Skip’ Rogers and Rob McDougall. Below, keynote speaker, former Navy SEAL Lt. Commander Sean Glass, mingles following the conclusion of Monday’s ceremony. And further below, Father Michael Duesterhaus left, a retired Navy Chaplain currently at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, preparing to give the opening invocation.

retired A.P. reporter, federal public information officer, post-WW II British vet, and Royal Examiner contributor Malcolm Barr Sr., who was given a nod by McDougall for resurrecting the local Memorial Day ceremony 11 years ago, out of which the now-accompanying Dogs of War and Service dogs weekend event sprang (see related story); and bagpiper and Marine veteran Jim Lundt.

Sean Glass and Malcolm Barr Sr. lead the wreath-laying ceremony near the conclusion of Monday’s Memorial Day remembrance of those soldiers who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation. Bless them all.

Watch the Royal Examiner’s exclusive video of Front Royal and Warren County’s Memorial Day Commemoration Ceremony, it will be time well spent, we promise.