Students enact the lives of past soldiers for family members. The dead are remembered from the Civil War.
By Leah Holliday
Playing the role of a soldier that has been buried for over a century, senior Devan Andrews provoked many emotions within the families of those who fought and died while fighting in the Civil War. On November 12, 2011, Blandford Cemetery held its annual luminary ceremony to honor the fallen and the history of the state. Many people participated dressing up as named and unnamed soldiers, who have been buried in the cemetery, and telling the story of that person’s life.
“The story telling was to give an idea of who the soldiers were because you see these names but you never really know what is behind the name,” junior Caleb Johnson said.
Told to the families of the soldiers, the life that they held before, during or after the war was acted out in vivid detail by each volunteer.This gave a voice to the veterans, instead of just a name and date of death.
“Everyone’s story is different,” senior Kenny Stith said. “Everyone had different experiences whether growing up during the Civil War or after. The soldiers faced many hardships. They had to deal with not being able to see their family and having basic necessities.”
The soldiers fought in horrible conditions to promote their beliefs. Recognition of the lives lost is very necessary.
The illuminating of the luminaries marked graves where names were unknown. This ceremony was held to show respect for them as well as all of the other soldiers who lost their lives for Veteran’s Day.
Busola Olanrewaju • Mar 30, 2012 at 8:31 am
It is such a beautiful thing to see us respecting and honoring our veterans. I love the idea that someone tells the life of that person to the people. You can never judge a book by its cover let alone a grave. So it’s great we get to learn more about the men who laid their lives for us.
Faven Butler • Jan 1, 2012 at 6:33 pm
I enjoyed reading the quotes of the students who participated in this event. The writer did a good job of capturing how the participants felt about about soldiers’ lives. The part where Johnson said “you see these names but you never really know what is behind the name” evokes emotion from the reader because it provides a personal perspective of what we as a society view the moderate soldier as. We view them as just a name with the thought that they risked their lives to protect our country. There is, as this article expressed, much more to that thought.
Caleb Johnson • Jan 1, 2012 at 5:30 pm
This was really good coverage of what the event was for but more information on the guests that attended and the masses of people it took to set it up would have been great things to add. I don’t know if you interviewed Mr. Pulskamp or Mr. Phillips but those would have been great guys to ask for the history and the details of portraying our character.
Megan Jonson • Dec 27, 2011 at 12:33 pm
This article does a nice job of explaining the purpose of this event and the activities. It was not held at PGHS, so I think many students had heard about it since students were involved but really did not understand what was going on. I think it is nice for the paper to cover community events, like this, as well as school events.