Islanders gather to remember fallen heroes

More than 200 islanders, young and old, gathered on the grounds of Vashon Cemetery to honor the nation’s fallen veterans on Memorial Day.

The cemetery was dressed up in finery for the occasion; its grounds splashed with the colors of fluorescent, fully flowering rhododendrons and the more muted but no less stunning foliage of mature maples and majestic firs.

Vashon’s Scout Troup 294, assisted by Cub Scout Pack 275, had made preparations for the ceremony on Saturday, fulfilling their yearly duty to place small American flags on the final resting places of the almost 700 veterans who are buried there. The flags, gently waving in the lightest of breezes, created a ripple of red, white and blue adorning the graves.

The ceremony took place against the backdrop of the cemetery’s War Memorial, which has stood for more than a century, commemorating those who have died in conflicts dating back to 1861. It began with a Color Guard, led by Commander John Burke, of the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign War (VFW), and a stirring rendition of the National Anthem by Gabriel and Mimi Dawson.

In an address, a veteran and officer of the VFW, Ryan Shannon, who served in the U.S. Army’s 2nd 75th Ranger Regiment in Iraq and Afghanistan, offered words of deep gratitude to members of the military who had died in combat, as well as to their families.

Shannon solemnly read the names of Washingtonians who had died in battle since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. These included two servicemen now resting in Vashon Cemetery: Robert Bennedson, a beloved son of Vashon and first lieutenant in the 2nd Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, who lost his life in 2010 while serving in Afghanistan; and Andrew Martin O’Francia Ward, killed in combat in Iraq in 2004 while serving with U.S. Army.

Shannon emphasized the importance of remembering the rich lives of the fallen, and their dreams that were cut short by their sacrifice.

“Live your life as if someone laid down theirs so you could live it,” he said. “And when you look at our flag, try and see it through their eyes.”

Representatives of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, American Hero Quilts, Vashon Scouts, the Eagles, Masons, Rotary Club, the Sportsmen’s Club, and Gold Star families and orphans of World War II, presented wreaths at the ceremony, followed by a musical program by Judd Creek Gospel Singers.

Led by Marita Erickson and accompanied by Mark Wells on guitar and Paul Colwell on mandolin, the choir sang “America, the Beautiful,” “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” and gospel favorites that included “I’ll Fly Away.”

The service notably included an address by islander Nancy Bachant, who spoke about her long journey to learn more about her father, who was killed in battle in World War II.

Bachant and her sisters Karen and Janet — a set of triplets — were born in March of 1944, just months before their father, Herbert Bachant, died near Rennes, in France, when German fire hit his military vehicle. Her mother was only 22 years old when she received the terrible telegram confirming his death.

Before his death, the Associated Press had found her father in England, and shown him a picture of his triplet daughters and wife, Nancy said. The news outlet then published a photo of him, looking at his new family with a wide smile, which was republished around the world.

“He wrote to [our mother] that we were his pinup girls,” Bachant said.

Shortly after her father’s death, Nancy and her infant sisters came to be known as the Bachant Triplets and their photos again appeared in newspapers across the country, in more tragic articles.

The family’s story is now part of the permanent collection on display in the Liberation Pavilion of the National WWII Museum in New Orleans. In the museum, the famous picture of Nancy’s father, beaming at the photo of his newborn triplets, is accompanied by a caption, read by Nancy at the Memorial Day service:

“Many of the 183,00 American children who received survivor benefits from the government never met their fathers. Grieving spouses carried on raising families but it was often too painful to share memories with children of fathers they knew only from photographs. War orphans carried a lifetime of loss within and some would never receive the comfort they needed,” the caption said.

Nancy said that had been her family’s experience. Her mother, she said, had remarried when she and her sisters were three.

“Our new stepfather was not comfortable with our mother keeping our father’s letters, so she threw them out,” Nancy said. “They would have been like gold to me today.”

Decades later, when Nancy was in her 60s, she began to research every bit of information she could gather about her father — his unit, the way he died, where he died, and why. At her mother’s request, she also facilitated that her mother would be buried with her father, at Hampton National Cemetery in Virginia.

“It’s nice to know they are together again,” she said.

She and her sisters, she said, have now traveled to France twice to attend anniversary celebrations of the liberation of Rennes, and will be heading back again this year for the liberation’s 80th anniversary. At last, they have a deep understanding of their father’s life and have even met and spoken with an eyewitness to his death.

The Bachant triplets, she said, have found closure.

“But many Gold Star families of MIA or KIA never get that gift of closure, of finding out about their loved one’s final days. Many soldiers in combat are still missing, their stories not told,” she said. “So on Memorial Day, remembering the fallen needs to include remembering their Gold Star families. It is so very important for all of us to remember the true cost of war.”