Kendall County residents Monday heard passionate stories of heroism and dedication of service to the country as part of two Memorial Day services in Boerne.
Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 688 speaker Russell Minor told the story of a soldier. Pvt. Gene Seng, a San Antonian buried at the Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery.
Seng, a Central Catholic High School graduate, was a member of the 2nd Division Marines who never had the chance to fight.
“It was his first battle, his first beach, his first minute of combat — his last breath,” Minor said.
Seng’s machine gun crew was unable to even set up before they were gunned down at Tarawa on Nov. 20, 1943.
“We were never friends, nor were we family. In fact, we’d never met, our lives separated not by distance, but by decades,” Minor said.
Minor questioned what exactly was it about Seng’s story that drew him back every year. Every headstone at Fort Sam Houston holds just as compelling a story, he said.
“I will return and I will remember,” said Minor, who choked up, taking a few seconds to compose himself.
“I will remember how you so willingly gave your life to protect mine,” he read. “I will gather with others to humbly say ‘thank you’ to honor, and to once again attempt in some small way to pay back a debt that can never be repaid.”
At the American Legion Post 313 Remembrance Ceremony at Veterans Plaza, Marcy Voss told of how Memorial Day came to have personal meaning to her.
Her son, Capt. Mark “Tyler” Voss, 28, died in the May 3, 2013 crash of a KC-135 refueling tanker in Kyrgyzstan.
While attending conference in San Antonio, she received a call from her husband, Wayne. A family member had seen a news report about a tanker plane crash out of the refueling depot where Voss was stationed.
After some confusion about markings on the plane, and which air base the destroyed plane came from, Marcy, Wayne and their family’s lives would change forever.
Still upset, Voss decided to take the rest of the day off and began her drive home.
(BELOW) Members of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 688 fire their weapons in a salute to the more than 750 former military members buried in the Boerne Cemetery. The VFW placed flags on all their graves prior to Monday’s Memorial Day ceremony. Star photos by Jeff B. Flinn
“I remember to this day the place on the pavement when I realized that if it wasn’t me that was experiencing this tragedy, there was another family that was,” she told the crowd assembled under tents and shade trees, “and I began praying that God would surround this family with his love, comfort and peace.”
When she got home, she said she noticed a car parked in front of her house, wondering who might be visiting her husband.
“However, when I got to the door, and saw the two uniformed officers standing in my living room, the realization of the truth came crashing upon me,” she said.
She said the officers told her Tyler was missing; his death wasn’t proclaimed until the next day.
Her son’s plane broke apart in mid-air due to a mechanical malfunction, she said. He was killed along with two others.
“When Tyler was buried at Arlington Cemetery, I looked across the fields and saw the thousands and thousands of graves of those who gave their lives for this country,” she said, “and I thought of the multitude of other families who experienced tragedy like mine.” Voss closed her speech with John 15:13: “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friend.”
Wayne and Marcy Voss placed a wreath near the Veterans Plaza engraving of her son. The playing of Taps followed several volleys of gunfire, bringing the ceremony to a close.
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