Gary-New Duluth Memorial Day service draws crowd, honors local veterans
Drivers on Commonwealth Avenue slowed as Boy Scouts, the National Guard and local families kept Gary-New Duluth’s veterans memorial at the center of Memorial Day.
Traffic on Commonwealth Avenue kept moving past Stowe Street, but many drivers slowed as they passed the crowd gathered at the Gary-New Duluth Veterans Memorial. The service there was built around remembrance, with fold-out chairs set near the neighborhood landmark and residents pausing to honor the dead by name.
The memorial’s own mission explains why the gathering carried so much weight in this part of Duluth. It was built in 1952 to commemorate World War II and Korean War veterans from Gary-New Duluth, and a partial list of Vietnam veterans was added later. Today, the memorial says it honors community members who served in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf War, Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, along with those who gave their lives.
The ceremony honored fallen veterans from Riverside, Smithville, Morgan Park, Gary-New Duluth, Fond du Lac and Oliver, Wisconsin. Names read and remembered included Toge Anderson, Eli Bubalo, Isadore Glowacki, Neal Hansen, G.E. Herman, Robert Howden, Edward Kodis, Steve Kosak, Jule Kreger, Sylvester Leveille, Walter Lukovsky, George Neumann, Bogadan Radich, Thomas Robinson, Vincent Schelky, Floyd Sutherland, Gerald Sutherland, Edward Wolff, Walter Dec, Norman Jacobson, John Vaydich, Dennis Pederson, Wayne Vine and Matthew Pionk.
The work of keeping that memory visible fell to a long list of local participants. David Blazevic and Boy Scouts of America Troop 13 opened the flag ceremony. The U.S. Army National Guard posted the colors, and the Army National Guard Honor Guard performed a rifle salute and Taps. Merry Waters of the Daughters of the American Revolution presented the wreath, Father John Petrich led prayers, and Mayor Roger Reinert, a Navy Reserve veteran, joined retired Gen. Tim Cossalter as a speaker. Cossalter said the gathering felt “kind of like coming home.”
The memorial’s reach extends beyond one block of Gary-New Duluth. A recent event listing described the service as honoring veterans from Duluth’s far western communities, including Riverside, Smithville, Morgan Park, Gary-New Duluth, Fond du Lac and Oliver. A community roundup said the ceremony begins at 9 a.m. and is followed by refreshments at the Gary-New Duluth Recreation Center, underscoring how the observance still functions as a neighborhood ritual as firsthand links to past wars grow thinner.
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