St. Regis remembers fallen

Matt Unrau

Mineral Independent

It was a time of remembrance on Monday in St. Regis as the American Legion Post honored its fallen comrades.

“It is time to remember the freedoms that we enjoy were paid by the blood of many,” said Retired Navy Commander Ernie Ornel during the ceremony.

The day began at 10 a.m. in Mullan Square.

The square lies in the center of St. Regis and the Legion honored the town by laying a wreath there.

In an annual contribution as they donate a new American flag to the town.

Each year for the Memorial Day Ceremony they put up the new flag, which is bought with funds from the Legion. “It never comes down so it gets a lot of wear and tear,” explained Master Sergeant Earl Eisenbacher, Commander of the American Legion.

The procession consisting of five veterans, two of whom held bolt-action rifles fired three shots in the air and then moved down the street toward a bridge.

At the bridge Master Sergeat Eisenbacher then commemorated all those lost at sea by dropping a wreath over into the river below.

The wreaths are a well-known symbol of remembrance and respect for the fallen.

The last stop for the procession was the St. Regis cemetery where they placed their third wreath underneath the flag pole as a “token of enduring memory.”

It’s a special day for Master Sergeant Eisenbacher. “I spent 30 years in the military. I’ve seen a lot of them that have fallen beside me. It’s a token of gesture for all the things that they’ve done for freedom,”  Eisenbacher said.

Eisenbacher has been a part of this ceremony for the past 25 years, all of which were conducted by the American Legion.

15 to 20 people watched the mid-morning ceremony. A few in the crowd were also veterans as they saluted during appropriate times.

The whole ceremony lasted a little less than an hour.