MONTE VISTA — During her keynote speech at Colorado Veterans Community Living Center’s Memorial Day ceremonies, Lieutenant Colonel Patricia Robertson gave a call to remember those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in service to their country.

Robertson retired in December after serving 33 years in the Air Force including four combat tours of duty in the Middle East as an aeromedical evacuation flight nurse. She now serves as a nurse practitioner in Monte Vista.

With her voice filled with emotion, she offered comfort to families who had lost loved ones in areas of combat, because someone like she was rendering compassionate aide in those last moments. She said, “Remembering those that I have held, I do not remember all of their names or all of their faces, but I do remember their spirits. They are forever written on my heart. I remember their courage and their service, their sacrifice in laying down their lives for others, for their brothers and sisters, for their nation, for you and me.”

She said she always said a prayer for the loved ones left behind and hoped it would bring those loved ones comfort to know someone was there for them to hold their hands, at the end.

Referring to John 15:11 that greater love has no man than to lay down his life for his friends, and Jesus’ statement “you are my friends,” Robertson said there are two who will lay down their lives for others — Jesus and the American military member.

Robertson reminded those gathered for the annual Memorial Day ceremony at Homelake of the sacrifices and courage of those who have answered the call to duty from the very beginning of this nation to the present. She reminded the audience that this nation’s current freedoms are due to those sacrifices.

She recalled coming across a tiny cemetery, the third smallest in the country, while visiting her brother in Virginia. Twenty-five graves hold the remains of 54 Union Army soldiers from the Civil War, with only one of the men identified, James Allen, and the rest unknown. She said she stood on that hallowed ground and thought about how much their sacrifice provided to future generations like hers.

She also told the story of Navy seaman Leon Paul Arickx, the son of Belgian immigrants who was three weeks short of his 23rd birthday when he died aboard the USS Oklahoma during the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7, 1941. He left behind numerous siblings and a sweetheart. Efforts have been made to identify those who died on the USS Oklahoma, and finally his family was notified that he had been identified.

“He has never been forgotten by his family,” Robertson said. His niece remembered that he was hard working and liked to joke.

He will finally be laid to rest this summer in Iowa, 77 years after making the ultimate sacrifice. One of those who plans to be there will be his great nephew Bob Galey, himself a veteran and the pastor of the Calvary Baptist Church in Monte Vista. Galey gave the opening and closing prayers at the Memorial Day service at Homelake and thanked God for the opportunity to remember “that our liberty in this great nation was paid for with a heavy price.”

Arickx’s story stresses “how a family did not forget … how a nation did not forget,” Robertson said.

She said Memorial Day weekend should be more than a three-day weekend and time for barbecues, but it should be a time for those to remember the sacrifices that have given them the liberty they enjoy and never take it for granted.

Participants in the Monday service called on those who watched and listened to remember those who have died in service. Master of Ceremonies Matthew Martinez, USMC, said Memorial Day was for all those “American heroes” who had made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of the United States as well as those who still struggle daily as a result of their service. He recalled close friends of his as well as the most recent combat casualties buried in the Homelake cemetery, Randal Rosacker, killed in action in 2003, Sgt. Glen Martinez killed in action in 2008 and Sgt. Faith Hinkley killed in action in 2010. At the conclusion of the service, their parents and family members rang the USS General Patrick Bell in their loved ones’ memory.

Colorado Veterans Community Living Center Activities Director Melanie Squire also read the names of 18 Homelake residents lost in the last year.

Special music for the Memorial Day services at Homelake was provided by Dorothy Chambers, Jackie Martinez, Esther Espinosa, Mike Pena and Katherine Chavez, El Coro Alegre de San Jose from Saint Joseph’s Catholic Church in Monte Vista, and TAPS and “Amazing Grace” by Tim Lambert.

The Fort Garland Memorial Regiment and Ladies of the Garrison were on hand for the occasion, as were Color Guard and Honor Guard members. In addition, wreath presentations were made by John Pinkney, Steve Salazar, Patrick Mascarenas and Peggy Martinez. Prior to the ceremonies, flags were placed at the graves by members of the Monte Vista Boy Scout Troop 287, Cub Scout Pack 287 and Monte Vista Ward.

An F-16 from Buckley Air Force Base performed a flyover at 11:30 a.m.

Robertson said her family members have asked her and her brother why they served, why they had to go, why couldn’t someone else do it. Every parent, spouse, sibling and child asks that question, she said. And they ask, “When will you come home?”

She said the answer to “when will you come home?” is more complicated, because those who serve do not know the answer or even if they will return, but the answer to why they serve is easier. It is because of sacrifice, honor and love, she said. She said she and others who have served, some making the ultimate sacrifice, believed, “I would rather die fighting for my nation’s way of life, for liberty and freedom, than to live in a land of tyranny and oppression.”

She listed the numbers of those who have died in wars from the Civil War to Iraq and Afghanistan. She said those who have served answered a call to honor and duty and to defend this nation.

Finally, love is a motivation for those who serve, she said, and only those who have lost loved ones can understand God’s love in giving His own son to die for us, she said, and those military members who have made that sacrifice themselves can understand the sacrifice of the Son.

Captions: As El Coro Alegre de San Jose from Saint Joseph’s Catholic Church in Monte Vista sing the National Anthem, from left Pastor Bob Galey, USAF, Lt. Col. Patricia Robertson, CVCLC staff Pam Self and Melanie Squire stand at attention during Homelake's ceremony./Courier photos by Ruth Heide

Lieutenant Colonel Patricia Robertson is keynote speaker.

Carol and Ron Martinez toll the USS General Patrick Bell in memory of their son Sgt. Glen Martinez, USMC, who was killed in action in May of 2008 in Iraq.

Retired Command Master Chief Petty Officer Rodney Rosacker and wife Debra toll the USS General Patrick Bell in memory of their son Randal Rosacker, USMC, who was killed in action in March of 2003.

Members of Faith Hinkley’s family toll the USS General Patrick Bell in her memory during the Memorial Day ceremony at the Colorado Veterans Community Living Center at Homelake. Sgt. Faith Hinkley, USA, was killed in action in August of 2010 in Iraq.

The Fort Garland Memorial Regiment and Ladies of the Garrison conduct pass and review at the beginning of the ceremonies at Homelake.