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Lonely memorial By Bill Miller May 30, 2022 12:15 AM A A You might think if someone chiseled a Memorial Day monument in stone that no one could possibly forget it, but they do. Fashioned and smoothed from Oregon granite, the overlooked memorial marker still sits under a usually empty flagpole at the south end of Ashland Cemetery. Too many ghost stories, zombie movies and tales from the crypt have made too many of us afraid to even enter a cemetery unless forced to attend a funeral. How shocking that would seem to our ancestors, especially those who lived in the 19th century. In a time when there were few — if any — public parks, the cemetery was a peaceful and comfortable refuge shared between the living and the dead. Family cemetery picnics on Sundays or holidays were not unusual. Parents strolled with children among the marble and granite stones, pausing to tell stories of lost cousins, grandparents, little brothers and sisters. The Ashland Memorial Day monument cost $700 and was funded by residents of the Granite City. The large stone came from the walls of the Blair Quarry, just eight miles east of Ashland. It was dedicated on Memorial Day, 1921. “We wish that this tablet,” Superintendent of City Schools George Briscoe said while unveiling the monument, “be a permanent memorial, reminding those that come after us of the glory of the republic, the bravery of its defenders and the holiness of its ideals.” After numerous speeches, Ashland’s children decorated the stone with flowers. A speaker from each community group offered a few patriotic words then turned to the monument and placed their own special decoration. A three-volley salute, fired by a squad of Ashland’s First Company of the Oregon National Guard, ended the official program. The inscription on the stone reads: “In commemoration of all who served in defense of the flag since the birth of the nation, erected by the patriotic citizens of Ashland.” On its front, it lists the American Revolution, the Civil War, Indian War and World War. Notice there’s no number attached to the World War. In 1921, they really believed they had fought and won the war to end all war. On two sides and on the nearly blank back of the monument are carved, War of 1812, Mexican War and Spanish American War. By the time World War II arrived, the monument apparently was just another forgotten block of granite in the cemetery. There’s no mention of WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm, Iraqi Freedom, Afghanistan or any other military operation. This was no small ceremony, but somehow quickly forgotten. A parade had formed early that morning on The Plaza, led by the Ashland Band playing martial music and followed by the Coast Artillery company in their Army dress uniforms. They were followed in military precision by American Legion members, the Veterans of the Spanish-American War, two troops of Boy Scouts and the often out-of-step Grand Army of the Republic — frail veterans of the Civil War. The Women’s Relief Corps and Daughters of the American Revolution surrounded the children, who carried arms full of flowers to decorate cemetery graves. They stopped near the bridge and tossed flowers into Ashland Creek in honor of the nation’s sailors lost at sea. By afternoon, with flowers on each grave quietly tossed by a gentle breeze, the cemetery was quiet and still. It was as if the monument was frozen in time. For the most part, it is. The flag does fly on that empty flagpole each Memorial Day and on other special occasions, but most who visit the cemetery have no idea there is a monument, why it was put there and who is responsible. But now you do. Writer Bill Miller is the author of five books, including Silent City on the Hill, Jacksonville’s Historic Cemetery. Reach him at [email protected].