SOLON — Memorial Day is considered by many as, “The unofficial start of summer,” with cookouts and summer activities galore. Its also a three-day weekend normally associated with “big sales” and “deep discount.”
Some however still remember the true purpose behind Memorial Day, originally known as “Decoration Day,” and the tradition of flags, bands, solemn speeches, and a rifle volley can still be found. Historians argue just where Decoration Day was first observed, but on May 5, 1868, General John Logan, the National Commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, designated May 30, 1868, to be a day for “strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion (the Civil War), and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land.” History states 5,000 participants decorated 20,000 Union and Confederate graves at Arlington Cemetery. By 1890 all northern states were recognizing Decoration Day while the South continued to honor their dead on separate days. After World War 1 the holiday was changed from honoring the Civil War dead to all Americans who had died fighting in any way. An act of Congress in 1971 solidified Memorial Day as the last Monday in May.
In Solon, The American Legion Stinocher Post 460 held their annual Memorial Day service Monday, May 30 at the Veterans Memorial with assistance from Solon’s Scout troops and the Solon High School marching band. Following comments from Post Commander Brad Storck, Lt. Colonel Trish Knight, US Space Force, took to the podium to deliver the keynote address.
The Col., daughter of Patrick and Toni Zenishek, grew up on a farm near Solon and graduated from Solon High School in 2000. While enlisting in the military in general, and the Air Force in particular (the Space Force is an offshoot of the Air Force created in 2019) was not a high priority initially, a bit of a reality check and a quick decision has led to an 18-year career.
Col. Knight explained her family often vacationed in Colorado and she fell in love with the state.
“The whole time growing up, I was like, I’m going to live here when I grow up. My parents thought it was adorable until high school and we went on a college visit. We went out to Colorado, we went to two or three different colleges, and very quickly realized that out-of-state tuition wasn’t something that a farmer’s family could afford for one of five kids.” Patrick, a combat-wounded Marine Corps veteran of the Vietnam War, took her to an ROTC (Reserve Officers Training Corps) office on the Colorado State University campus.
“He said, ‘If you want to go to school here, you go inside and get yourself a scholarship.’ I walked inside dressed in flip flops and Major Pratt was working the front desk. I said, ‘My dad says you’ll pay for me to go to college.’ He handed me a form and said ‘Yes, sign here. You have to take our classes for four years, then you do a four-year commitment when you’re done,’ and I was like, anybody can do anything for four years, so that sounds fantastic.”
She graduated in 2004 and was commissioned as an officer in the Air Force.
“I was only going to do four years, and here I am 18 years later. It’s been a great ride.”
Currently, Col. Knight is the commander of the 347th Recruiting Squadron based near Milwaukee, WI.
“We do Air Force and Space Force enlisting for all of eastern Iowa, all of Wisconsin, the upper peninsula of Michigan, and northern Illinois. We have 89,000 square miles, over fifty different recruiter’s offices, the office in Cedar Rapids is my hard-working recruiter. I’ve never been a recruiter, I’ve never done recruiting before. I’ve done intelligence, I’ve done space acquisitions, I’ve done a bunch of different things, but recruiting is not one of my forte’s, but it’s a mission to really easily get behind and want to do the best you can with.”
On returning home on Memorial Day, the Col. Said, “It’s absolutely incredible to be able to be here. My dad’s been asking me for years to come back and give the Memorial Day speech, not just for my service but for our family, Memorial Day is so important because of the personal sacrifice of the man who saved my dad’s life. So being able to come back and to share that with my hometown has been a real honor.”
Honoring the ultimate sacrifice
June 1, 2022
About the Contributor
Chris Umscheid, Editor
Chris Umscheid is the editor of the Solon Economist.