Fifty-one doves were released into the air Monday at the Vancouver Barracks during the annual Memorial Day Observance — 50 for each state and one for Air Force Capt. Chris Stover.
The crowd collectively gasped as the white birds flew overhead toward the sky. With them, they carried the spirit of military personnel who died in the line of duty, including Stover, who died at age 28 in a Jan. 7 helicopter crash during a training flight along England’s coast.
Doves are also meant to be symbols of hope, said Larry Smith, a Vancouver city councilor and retired Army colonel.
Each year, people gather in Vancouver’s historic district to honor and remember service members. In total, Smith said, more than 1.3 million soldiers have died since the American Revolutionary War.
Many of the speakers at the event stressed the importance of recognizing the family members of military personnel on Memorial Day. Tracy Fortmann, superintendent at the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, grew up with a father away on military duty. She said those in the military miss out on the comforts of home and community, but that their sacrifice helps secure freedom for the country.
“This is a chance for us to say ‘thank you’ to them, but also ‘thank you” to their families,” U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler said.
Keynote speaker Col. Richard Wedan, commander for the 142nd Fighter Wing in Portland, said that sometimes Memorial Day is about honoring people who died while preparing for battle. He said his father, who trained soldiers to jump out of planes, gave a soldier with cold feet the needed push out of the plane during a training, after the pilot signaled they were safe to jump. However, the pilot had miscalculated the plane’s altitude and the young solider died from the jump.
Having a son who recently graduated from the Air Force Academy and is in training, Wedan said he knows those familiar pangs of joy, pride and fear families feel for their loved ones in the Air Force. He said he shudders as he tries to comprehend what it would be like to lose his son. Family members including Chris Stover’s parents, Rich and Mari, shoulder that burden, he said.
“It is in that light that we honor you, Rich, and you, Mari,” Wedan said.
Parents touched
The couple placed a wreath for their son on the Clark County Veterans War Memorial. It was Mari and Rich Stover’s first time at the Memorial Day Observance in Vancouver’s historic district, and they said they were floored by the well wishes and community support. Later in the afternoon, they went to a flag pole dedication at the soccer area of the Harmony Sports Complex in east Vancouver, where Chris Stover played soccer as a boy and later refereed games.
“It’s been an up and down day,” Rich Stover said, adding that they “cried and smiled a lot.”
As the couple participated in the ceremony, they were escorted by Air Force Sgt. Matt Trevino and retired Master Sgt. Dale Rex.
Weeks before the crash, Trevino, 31, was scheduled to deploy with Chris Stover to Afghanistan. He had plane tickets in hand, and was slated to do flight training with him in London. After the helicopter crash, the deployment was shifted to another squadron.
Trevino was hired locally at the 304th Rescue Squadron in Portland, but he lives in Vancouver. He recently learned he was living in Stover’s hometown and decided to help out by being an escort at the memorial ceremony.
At the end of the ceremony, the 204th Army Band played a medley featuring the songs for each military branch as a cannon boomed nearby in remembrance of those who died while serving.
Rich and Mari Stover clapped along to the Air Force song, informally known as “Into the Blue.”
