BY DAN HILDEBRAN
The new city manager of Keystone Heights gave the address at the city’s Memorial Day ceremony, organized by AMVETS Post 86.
The former Army helicopter pilot told the crowd about two men he knew personally who gave their lives for their country.
The first was the father of Ethan Chapman. Ethan graduated from Keystone Heights High School the previous Friday, and Van Zant said his father, Sgt. Bryan Chapman died from wounds and disease during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Van Zant added that he met Middleburg resident Gary Rhodes when he and Rhodes underwent helicopter mechanics school together.
“A few years later, I learned as we were experimenting with external fuel tanks on the Black Hawk, he was aboard a Black Hawk in Wiesbaden, Germany, that went down,” Van Zant recalled. “It killed a three-star general, and it also killed a young husband and father.”
Van Zant added that he wondered why American men and women are willing to lay down their lives for their country.
“I had to stop and reflect on why people do this,” he said. “Why is there such a commitment among American servicemen and women to actually lay down their lives? What is so special about our country that people would freely do that?”
Van Zant said his question took him to the signers of the Declaration of Independence. He told the audience that of the document’s 56 signers, five were captured and tortured by the British before they died, 12 had their homes ransacked and burned, two lost sons in the Revolutionary War, one had two sons captured, and nine fought and died for the new country.
“Our freedom has always come at a high cost,” he concluded. “That tradition has been carried on through today by so many servicemen.”
Van Zant said a spiritual dimension also inspired commitment to the country.
He quoted John Quincy Adams and George Washington, who said that constitutional government without the Gospel and without religion would fail.
Van Zant listed the number of Americans lost in each war since the beginning of the 20th century. He added that the people lost are more than numbers.
“As an Army aviator, I’ve long had the privilege to serve along some of the finest individuals our nation has had to offer,” he said. “I’ve witnessed their courage, their resilience, and their unwavering commitment to duty. I’ve seen their sacrifices firsthand and felt the brotherhood that has sustained them through the darkest times.”
The former Clay County School Superintendent added that he had also seen the cost of war on the families of fallen service members.
“I’ve also seen the toll that war exacts on lives lost on family,” he said. “Shattered lives and deep scars, both physically and emotionally, that people bear as family members. Let us remember their families and their spouses who kissed them goodbye one day and never saw them again.”
Van Zant encouraged the audience to take steps to memorialize the fallen by encouraging Gold Star family members and contributing to organizations that support them.
He also said that ordinary citizens can honor the memory of those lost by living lives of integrity and serving others.
