My younger brother (by 23 months), Thomas Crook, Senior Chief, Retired, United States Navy, my best friend all these many decades, is the very model of humility and dignity. Because of the deep trust between us, Thomas has allowed me to share the photographs taken at our father’s burial this past summer, for my Veterans Day tribute to him, although …
At noon Friday, July 10, 2020, on a somber hillside south of Mandan, N.D., a lone bugler will blow Taps, and a squad of American Veterans will fire a 21-gun salute to 1st Sgt. Hubert Garland Crook, U.S. Army (retired) as his cremated ashes are laid under a white marble headstone, joining thousands of his fellow Soldiers, Sailors, Marines and …
On Memorial Day, flowers and flags are plentiful at the North Dakota Veterans Cemetery, located 6.5 miles south of Mandan on state Highway 1806 on a 35-acre tract of land in the southwest corner of Fort Abraham Lincoln State Park. The cemetery, established by an act of the 1989 North Dakota Legislative Assembly, opened in July 1992.
And so the North Dakota Veterans Cemetery will remain dark at night. North Dakota’s adjutant general, David Sprynczynatyk, whose command includes the cemetery, made his decision at the end of a week of input from the public on the efficacy of a well-intentioned but poorly thought-out proposal to light the cemetery at night. Thank you to those who called the …
Lillian had set the newspaper beside my coffee cup on the dining room table while I was at the Y the other morning. A big headline reading “Cemetery lighting project may seek $400,000” was circled, and she had written across it in big black letters: “This is a bad idea.” She was right. The story said local boosters were requesting …