Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 8904, Auxiliary and friends gathered Friday, March 31 to remember veterans who served in the Somalian peacekeeping mission.
Post Chaplain Kenneth Ramsey led the group in prayer. “O Lord, we thank you for the sacrifices our veterans who served in Somalia made for us and for world peace. We gather here in these moments to remember them. May this day be a day of commemoration to honor those who served. Amen.”
Post Quartermaster Larry Hume opened the ceremony asking for a moment of silence for the nine Army soldiers who died in a helicopter collision in Kentucky Wednesday, March 29.
Following that, he led the gathering in the Pledge Of Allegiance to the U.S. flag.
“Americans consider themselves to be a compassionate people,” Hume began. “And the United States military has a long tradition of humanitarian relief operations both within and outside the continental United States.
“Never has this humanitarian impulse proven more dangerous to follow than in 1992 when the United States intervened to arrest famine in the midst of an ongoing civil war in the East African country of Somalia,” said Hume.
“Ultimately hundreds of thousands were saved from starvation, but unintended involvement in Somali’s civil strife cost the lives of 30 American soldiers, four Marines, and eight Air Force personnel during the years of 1992 and 1994.
“The American military had established the conditions for peace in the midst of a famine and civil war, but, unlike later in Bosnia, the factions were not exhausted from the fighting and were not yet willing to stop killing each other and anyone caught in the middle,” Hume said.
“There was no peace to keep, and the United States withdrew all military combat troops in March 1994. The American G.I. had, as always, done their best under difficult circumstances to perform a complex and often confusing mission. But the best military in the world can only lay the foundation for peace; they cannot create peace itself.”
Post Member and Somalia Veteran Sean Martin laid the memorial wreath at the Veteran’s Memorial in honor of those who served.
As a final tribute, Past Post Commander Gene Hutto sounded taps for those lost and those who served and survived but have since passed.
“Thank you for being here today,” Hume concluded. “You are true patriots. Without you, this day would have gone by unnoticed in Shelby County.”
The Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 8904 has no programs schedule in April. Their next patriotic gathering will be for Loyalty Day, May 1, 2023.