‘This is our time‘

Published 10:45 am Wednesday, January 21, 2009

A movement has been afoot in Mill Creek for several years to commemorate military veterans and active-duty servicemen and women.

On Tuesday, Jan. 13, the City Council offered its stamp of approval to an energetic group of veterans planning a Memorial Day parade on Main Street. Here are their stories:

A land of opportunity

He was supposed be a doctor or a clergyman — perhaps even a restaurateur — but Weldon Lee had other interests.

When the now 63-year-old retired Army major announced in 1965 that he was enlisting in the military, his parents were not pleased.

Lee’s mother and father fled China with their oldest son in the early 1940s for a better life in the United States — a country that promised them the opportunity to work and save enough money to put their children through college.

Lee, born in 1945, grew up in Seattle, where his parents ran two restaurants to secure bright futures for their two sons.

“Here they could earn a living and sustain a living so their children could go on to have bigger and better lives,” said Lee, who’s helped spearhead the effort in Mill Creek to honor those who have served and are currently serving in the military. “They came here with nothing and built a life for my brother and I. When my mother passed away, I realized she was a multi-millionaire, but she’d never changed; she always wore the same clothes and lived the same modest lifestyle.”

It was for many reasons, including those opportunities and freedoms his family enjoyed as Americans, that Lee chose his career in the military.

“I felt there was more to life than the money I might have made in the medical field or in the restaurant business,” Lee said. “Any group in which being a member means risking the life and death of yourself and your buddies has to be looked at; people have to find out what’s involved with that and why so many are ready and willing to make such sacrifices.”

His parents offered to pay his way through medical school, anything to keep their youngest son out of the Army, but Lee refused.

He served his country in Vietnam, running special operations missions that he prefers not to talk about — only to say that he did participate and that he’s proud of his service.

“My family saw the brutality and ruthlessness of war when the Japanese attacked China,” Lee said. “My grandmother would take my mother and my mother’s brothers and sisters from their village and hide in the jungle by day, because if the Chinese were caught in their villages they’d either be shot and killed, tortured or taken as prisoners and forced into servitude.”

During his service in Vietnam, Lee too saw the brutality of war.

“In my involvement with the military, I’ve seen tragedy and heartbreak over and over again,” Lee said. “It’s frustrating to me as a veteran to try and explain to people the sacrifices our soldiers have to make. You can’t tell by a soldier’s medals how many nights he went without sleep, or how many times he woke up to find his buddies in pieces to small for body bags; those are the horrors of war.”

A dying breed

Retired Army Major Charles Kerr dreamt of becoming a soldier from the time he was 3, and at 16, in 1937, he lied about his age to get into the Army.

“They shipped me off the Hawaii territory; really tough duty,” Kerr said, laughing. “I don’t know why I lied about my age, I just had always wanted to be a soldier.”

Kerr was stationed in South Pacific for several years during World War II and later served in Korea.

“I remember a banner over the archway at our base in Korea that read, ‘We’ve been doing so much with so little for so long we can do anything with nothing,’” Kerr said. “So it’s not just soldiers today that are battling with too few resources. This has been so throughout history.”

Kerr’s record of service extends beyond the military. A doctor of human behavior, Kerr had a near-20 year career in law enforcement, and still volunteers as a mediator, specializing in anger management, divorce disputes, parenting plans, landlord and tenant disputes, labor negotiations, small claim court actions, counseling in dysfunctional human behavior and other areas of expertise.

“I just wanted something to do after I retired,” Kerr said. “Service became a way of life for me.”

Where it all began

Retired Marine Sgt. Fred Fillbrook, started pounding the drum in Mill Creek several years ago to honor military veterans and active duty servicemen and women.

His call to city leaders to support the placement and dedication of a monument and to help establish an annual Veterans Day parade was heard by those affiliated with the military in and around the city. A committee was formed, bringing Fillbrook, Kerr, Lee and countless more veterans and interested community members together.

“I figured we’d get a few people involved and eventually get a little parade started,” Fillbrook said.

But the committee of local community members last year became a non-profit organization and plans are in the works for the largest Memorial Day parade in any Snohomish County city.

“I never imagined we’d start anything like this,” Fillbrook said.

Our time has come

You’ll find a monument honoring military service in nearly every East Coast and Southern United States city and township.

“It’s because those people have never forgotten the Civil War,” Lee said. “It’s why in the South you’ll find Army National Guard units and other military units are 95 percent full.”

Memorials to military people on the West Coast, however, are few and far between. A fact Lee attributes to the area’s traditionally liberal mindset. It may further explain why efforts to commemorate local veterans and active soldiers have been embraced and supported by not just the Mill Creek community but by organizations across the nation, including the Reserve Officers Association, the Military Officers Association of America, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Operation Family and many more.

Organizers hope to have active-duty color guards from all military branches and as many as 75 reservist color guards from the National Guard, schools, churches, veteran service organizations and other groups. Also invited to participate: the U.S. Navy Band, state and local lawmakers, high ranking military officers from area bases, Congressional Medal of Honor recipients and families of fallen soldiers.

“Memorial Day is all but forgotten except in the national cemeteries,” Kerr said. “Hopefully this event will help revive patriotism here.”

Failure for these men was never an option, despite the hoops involved the getting a parade permit — insurance, sponsors and buy-in from business owners along Main Street.

They’ve even tapped their own savings accounts to help cover the associated costs.

“This is our time and the time has come,” Lee said.

“It’s going to be the biggest Memorial Day event of any in the area, and we hope it will remind people of the sacrifices our soldiers make for this country every day.”