Oster speaks at 129th annual Memorial Day program
By Michael Johnson, Editor
The 129th annual Washburn Memorial Day Service was held at the Washburn Memorial Building for the 60th year on Monday. All those years of remembrance was something that guest speaker Dewey Oster said the locals should be very proud of continuing. Oster took the opportunity to speak to the crowds about what it is to be a soldier. He spoke of many stories of local and historical veterans and the horrors that they went through in serving their country. “Where in Heaven's name did they find the courage to do what they did?” Oster asked. He described his own experience in war as frightening at times yet a walk in the park compared to what some had to endure. “War is not pretty,” Oster said. “It's not something that someone can glorify.” One such veteran who died unexpectedly last August, Clayton Carr, was Oster's best friend. Oster talked about the intense fire that Carr came under in combat in the heart of the Tet Offensive. He said the combat had immediate and lasting effects on him.
