Just got back from helping the Maine Historical Society pick-up wreathes in the cemetery. We arrived at 0900 for a 0930 start only to find hundreds of people already swarming the sections picking up wreathes and carrying them off to the dumpsters.
So the family and I grabbed our poles and headed off to do our part. One trip each to the dumpster with about 30 wreathes each and all of Section 33 was cleaned, so we headed off to Section 60, the newest section where our men and women from Iraq and Afghanistan are buried.
There were many people there and I caught the soft cries of loved ones as they meandered through the stones picking up wreathes, flowers and other mementoes. Anything not picked up and claimed would be picked up by the ground crews and disposed of so many people were just collecting the really nice stuff and marking whose grave it came from so it could be returned to the family.
On our way over to section 60 I mentioned that we should look for Capt John Ryan Dennison [also] who was buried there in November 2006 and was from our hometown....but we quickly realized that we would need a miracle to find his single stone amongst the thousands in this section. After noticing that they were in annual order we began looking for 2006 and then there he was!
Cleaning up his site we were encouraged by the most wonderful woman we've ever met, a caring soul that comes to the cemtery not to visit a loved one but to care for those who are already there, to gather up the items left on Capt Dennison's grave and give them to the family. She asked us for our address as she had some momentoes at home for the Dennison's and some pictures of his service for them, and promised to mail them off to us so we could get them to his family. After exchanging information, we picked up the items and carried them with us quietly to our van for the ride home.
A quiet sadness came upon me as we walked along the road back to the parking lot, and I couldn't help but think that someone was looking down upon us and saying thank you.
We drove towards home and after a nice lunch at the most wonderful sandwich resturant in Maryland, we stopped off at my parent's house to give them the items for the Dennison's. It seems taht there is a connection for us and the Dennison's. My father and Capt. Dennison's father sing in the same choir at church and a long time ago, Mr. Dennison and I both served around Nuremburg Germany in the 1st Armored Division, although we didn't know that until recently.
I'll leave you with the verse that is referenced at the bottom of Capt Denninson's stone, Romans 5: 1-5
“1Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we[a]have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
2 Through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.…And we[b] rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
3 Not only so, but we[c] also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;
4 perseverance, character; and character, hope.
5 And hope does not disappoint us…”
Hope does not dissapoint, not at all.
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