Memorial Day Event Remembered Deaths After War

Combat Deaths, Suicides Memorialized at Claquato Ceremony 
Remembering the Fallen: Annual Memorial Day Commemoration Draws Large Crowd
Chronicle
By Justyna Tomtas
May 25, 2015

Hawkins said the senseless deaths that continue after bullets stop flying are unnecessary. He urged everyone to remain beside the dying and injured on the “battlefield of life,” just as one would not leave those on an actual battlefield.

Pete Caster
Memorial Day at Claquato
People gather around the American flag at Claquato Cemetery
as the pay their respects to veterans on Monday morning in Adna.

CLAQUATO — Jeff Hawkins worked as a hospital corpsman for the Navy in the early 1990s.

Throughout his four years of service, he saw three deaths. One was in combat. The other two were suicides.

The pastor and Chehalis resident said Memorial Day is a time to give thanks to those who died protecting America’s values, and also a day for remembering those who are plagued by the atrocities of war long after leaving the battlefield.

Observers listened to the message, and others, Monday morning at an annual ceremony at Claquato Cemetery outside of Adna.

Hawkins spoke of the more than 1.3 million American military members who have given their lives service of the country since 1775, noting that number does not include those who later commited suicide after struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.

“A veteran is a person who wrote a blank check payable to the United States of America for an amount up to and including one's life, and there is no expiration date on that check,” Hawkins said, later adding that statistics show 22 veterans commit suicide each day. “We’re here this morning to pay tribute to those who died fighting for our country, but there are many discharged veterans who never left those battles. They are still losing those battles, and they are still dying.”
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