Boy Scouts and CGNHP celebrate remembrance

To the editor:

There are many lessons to be learned at Cumberland Gap NHP, but there’s an especially important one as Veteran’s Day approaches on Wednesday. Not many people are aware that almost 600 Union soldiers were buried in a national cemetery near the gap after they died during the Civil War, and that the remains were only moved to a cemetery in Knoxville in the years after the fighting ended.

The important lesson isn’t about Civil War history, though. It’s about remembrance. Veteran’s Day was established as a way to honor those who represented our nation in the military, and military dead from the gap are just a reminder that this Veteran’s Day would be a good time to reflect on one definition of the word “remembrance” as “a gift given as a token of love or friendship.”

Taking time to reflect on the 600 soldiers who died at the gap, or the veteran of the “Great War” whose grave stone is one among a field of thousands, or the soldiers who arrive tonight in an aluminum casket from Iraq or Afghanistan, is both fitting and proper. And the act of remembering, by itself, can be a gift given as a token of love or friendship in exchange for the service provided by our soldiers.

Boy Scout Troop #544 encourages anyone interested in sharing that remembrance to join them at 5 p.m., on Wednesday, the 11th, at Cumberland Gap NHP. Working with the park, local Cub Scouts, and the Thomas Walker JROTC, the scouts will host the annual ceremony to honorably retire worn U. S. flags. Anyone with a worn American flag is invited to supply it to be destroyed during the ceremony, but everyone is welcome to celebrate the larger purpose for the holiday: Remembrance.

Dirk Wiley

Chief Ranger

Cumberland Gap National Historical Park