Recordpub.com - Portage service salutes veterans: More than 200 at ceremony

By Dave O’Brien

Record-Courier staff writer

The price of freedom was written on the faces of the more than 200 men and women standing silent Wednesday on the lawn of the Portage County Courthouse in Ravenna.

It was in their tears, in their hearts, on their sleeves and in their voices for the county’s annual Veterans Day commemoration, which featured guest speakers, patriotic tunes by Kent’s Theodore Roosevelt High School Brass Quintet and moments of reflection on those who were called to serve their nation.

At least seven times in the past century, American soldiers have been called to defend freedom around the globe, retired Portage County Municipal Court Judge Perry Dickinson said.

“We have been called many times,” said Dickinson, who received the Purple Heart after being wounded in combat with the U.S. Marine Corps at Okinawa during World War II. “And we have responded as we should.”

Ohio Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher — in Ravenna for Wednesday’s events — said his father-in-law, Mike Zone, was a prisoner of war in World War II. Zone, he said, “never talked about that experience,” and “would always change the subject” when it came up in conversation.

It wasn’t until Zone’s death that Fisher’s mother-in-law pulled a “well-worn, but still legible” diary out of their closet and shared it with Fisher and his wife. Among the detailed recipes for Italian cooking and plans for the nine children he would have, Zone kept memories that helped him survive captivity.

“He was able to see beyond the barbed wire, beyond the cruelty of the guards. He was able to see the future, and that kept him alive,” Fisher said. “All those men fought for the future of our country, their children and our children.”

Ohio is home to more than 900,000 veterans, he said, the sixth-largest population of such men and women in the nation. Nearly 14,000 of them live in Portage County. Fittingly, two Portage County veterans who aided in the planning and construction of the Portage County Veterans Memorial Plaza recently died and were remembered for their service.

Portage County Commissioner Maureen Frederick said the sacrifices of Russ Marris and Don MacLearie should not be forgotten. A retired first sergeant in the U.S. Army who saw service in Korea and Vietnam, Marris was the longtime commander of the Ravenna Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 1055, and member of American Legion Post No. 331. MacLearie was a veteran of the U.S. Air Force, an airman first class who also was a member of Post 1055 and American Legion Post No. 193.

In the past year, 103 new pavers and bricks bearing the names of Portage County veterans have been installed in the plaza, built with the aid of federal funds. U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, instrumental in obtaining those funds, said Wednesday that Veterans Day is a time to “honor, celebrate and ritualize” their sacrifice.

“But we are supposed to honor them every day of the year,” he said, gesturing to the memorial plaza in front of him.

Veterans Day is “not a holiday, but a day of reflection and thanksgiving,” minister Wayne Enders said during the invocation.

“Freedom is not just handed down to us but purchased at a great price over generations,” he said before the bowed heads of the veterans who encircled the plaza.