By Brian M. Boyce
TERRE HAUTE — The sun set over turning trees, above two ponds in Highland Lawn Cemetery.
Motorcycles rumbled about the bends and twists of the cemetery’s roads as Patriot Riders with flags waving in the breeze cruised in for the ceremony.
By about 5:16 p.m. Veterans Day, after a day of parading processions and memorial tributes, U.S. Army Sgt. Dale Russel Griffin, 29, was prepared for final rest.
His flag-draped coffin was carried up a hill on the cemetery’s eastern side by a U.S. Army Honor Guard, and three volleys were fired in tribute as a bugler played “Taps.”
Vigo County Superior Court Judge and family friend Chris Newton addressed the assembled crowd, whose cars lined the cemetery’s roads for the visible distance.
Newton noted the struggles endured by the family since Griffin’s Oct. 27 death while serving in the Arghandab Valley in Afghanistan. But it was words from another war that he invoked that Wednesday afternoon, those of the Civil War’s Gettysburg Address.
As he read President Abraham Lincoln’s speech, he said the Civil War was fought to set men free. “Dale died to keep us free.”
No greater love hath any man than he who lays his life down for his friends, Newton said, quoting Jesus Christ, pointing out that sacrifice for others is the basis for eternal life in heaven.
“Amazing Grace” was played on bagpipes as gatherers wiped away tears, and on behalf of the family, Newton invited the mourners to the VFW Post 972 to remember better days.
Brian Boyce can be reached at 812-231-4253 or brian.boyce@tribstar.com.
