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THE
BLADE
Toledo, Ohio, Tuesday, May 31, 2005
MEMORIAL
DAY
Respects are paid at historic Woodlawn
11 groups remember cemetery's war dead
By Tom Troy
Blade Staff Writer
One by one, the uniformed representatives of 11 military, auxiliary,
and fraternal groups stepped forward, placed a flower in a wreath, saluted, and
then turned and marched back to their place in the crowd.
The somber ceremony, lightened by the warm weather, was the 76th in a row
for the Woodlawn Memorial Day Association at Woodlawn Cemetery at Central and
Auburn avenues.
The only unscripted moment was when 8-year-old Tameara Dean walked forward
to place a flower that someone had given her into the wreath.
She said later she was there with her friend, Lakendra Lawrence, 10, whose
grandfather, Dennis McGhee, is a member of the 5th Ohio U.S. Colored Troops re-enactment
group.
"I guess she was touched or moved," Mr.
McGhee said afterward. The association this year paid tribute to 5,132 veterans
buried there. The ceremony was held at the Civil War Monument, a tall obelisk
surrounded by small white gravestones of Civil War dead.
The sound of a gun salute was provided by the 5th Ohio U.S.C.T., whose five
soldiers each fired three rounds from his their rifles.
Kimm Williams, a private in the group, said its purpose is to keep alive the
memory of the sacrifices made by black soldiers who died in the Civil War. He
said soldiers from the unit are buried in 86 of Ohio's 88 counties.
"They were already free. They didn't have to fight. They sacrificed themselves
to bring everybody up to freedom," said Mr. Williams, a Toledo firefighter.
Joining them were some spouses, who dressed the part.
Judy Winder, the head of preservation for the Old West End Association, said
she was pleased to see the turnout yesterday. She said the association is trying
to promote Woodlawn because so many of Toledo's famous early families are buried
there.
"Most of the people who really did big things in the community are all
here," she said. The names include Secor, Stranahan, Miniger, Steedman,
and Tiedtke. The cemetery is on the National Register of Historic Places, and
still has plots to sell.
Among the onlookers was Toledo Police Officer Tim Steedman, who was working
off-duty to provide security. He discovered that a distant relative, Civil War
Maj. Gen. James Steedman, was buried in Woodlawn.
General Steedman was chief of police in Toledo in 1883 for five months before
his death.
"I never knew he was even buried here," Officer Steedman said. "They
were doing that service right there by the memorial. I was standing there looking
at the various monuments and there it was."
Mark Haddad, a major in the volunteer Civil Air Patrol based at Toledo Express
Airport and president of the association, said the group placed flowers on the
nearly 5,200 veterans' graves on Friday and Saturday. He said other cemeteries
have their own associations that honor Memorial Day.
He said the turnout was a little larger than previous years. He can recall
participating at Woodlawn as far back as 1967.
In the keynote speech, Wade Gaston, a senior master sergeant of the 180th
Fighter Wing of the Air National Guard, urged listeners to remember the sacrifices
made to preserve freedom and democracy.
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