‘They stood in the gap for us’: Gosport honors the fallen

Col. Koester serves as guest speaker for Memorial Day 2026

Under a wide cathedral sky, the grass of Gosport Cemetery held a quiet crowd. They came as they do every year, drawn together by a shared, silent history, to stand among the weathered stones and remember.

The morning air carried the weight of names carved deep into granite, but the day’s keynote speaker, Retired United States Army Colonel Joy Koester, asked the gathering to look past the stone, past the military rank, and into the breathing human lives that once were.

Standing before the crowd on May 25, Col. Koester began not with a formal Memorial Day address, but with an invitation to step inside the quiet spaces of memory.

“I’d like to begin with a simple request: close your eyes for a moment, and imagine a quiet field of thought, rows of white markers standing in perfect formation, each one a silent witness to a life given in service,” she said. “Now picture a name, not just the name carved into stone, but a person, someone who once laughed, dreamed and loved. Someone who wore our nation’s uniform and never came home. That name might belong to a soldier from a century ago, a Marine from Vietnam, an airman from Afghanistan or a sailor from World War II. Whoever they were, they stood in the gap for us. They gave up their tomorrow so that we could have our today.”

Col. Koester continued by weaving a thread of connection, bridging the past with the living present.

“So today we gather, not just to remember those names etched in stone, but the beautiful lives, the dreams and the sacrifices they represent,” she said. “Some of us here have worn the uniform, while others have waited at home for a loved one’s safe return; some have felt the deep pain of loss. We are all bound together by gratitude, gratitude that transcends generations.”

Her voice rose against the backdrop of our modern, frantic world, offering Memorial Day as a necessary sanctuary, a rare moment to pause the endless rush of time as traffic on State Road 67 sped past the otherwise quiet cemetery.

“Memorial Day is more than history. It is a living tradition, a promise passed from one generation to the next that we will never forget,” Col. Koester continued, “From the beaches of Normandy to the mountains of Afghanistan, from the skies over the Pacific to the deserts of the Middle East, their courage has shaped the course of history. We live in a world where the pace is fast, the news cycle is short, and distractions are endless. Yet Memorial Day calls us to slow down, to stand still, and to remember.”

To illustrate what this sacrifice looks like in real life, Col. Koester shared the story of a brave military nurse answering the call to serve overseas.

“Let me share with you the story of Captain Jennifer Moreno, a US Army nurse who volunteered for a dangerous mission in Afghanistan,” she said. “She was not required to go, but she went anyway, because her brothers in arms needed her. In the chaos of battle, she ran toward the wounded, knowing the risk. She never came back.”

Moreno, 25, was posthumously promoted to the rank of Captain and awarded the Combat Action Badge, the Bronze Star Medal and the Purple Heart after her death in the line of duty.

Bringing the heavy map of global sacrifice back to the very soil beneath the audience’s feet, Col. Koester turned her heart toward home, calling out the names of Gosport’s own sons.

“I’d like to remember four other men today, in particular because these heroes recognized Gosport as their home of record,” she said. “Albert William Warthan, a 26-year-old staff sergeant in the United States Army, started his tour in January of 1968 in South Vietnam and died in hostile artillery in April of 1968.”

She continued the roll call, invoking the memory of a 20-year-old soldier who never got the chance to grow old. “Genie Lee McDonald, a sergeant in the United States Army. He was 20 years old when he was killed in South Vietnam during a ground attack of small arms fire.”

Next came the memory of an airman, lost to the sky and the sudden violence of a crash: “Alfred Funck, he was a staff sergeant serving in the US Air Force. He was 35 when he was killed in South Vietnam in an air crash.”

And finally, Col. Koester spoke the name of a 19-year-old soldier, whose future ended in the valleys of Southeast Asia: “And lastly, Danny Lee Bolin, a PFC (Private First Class) in the United States Army, 19 years old, was a ground casualty in an air loss in South Vietnam.”

As the echoes of those names settled over the cemetery, Col. Koester reminded those listening that the very breath of a free society is a fragile thing, sustained only by the weight of such profound devotion.

“Freedom is not self-sustaining; it must be defended, generation after generation,” she said. “The men and women we honor today understood that. They believed in something bigger than themselves. The idea that liberty is worth protecting, even at the cost of one’s life. Their sacrifice is the reason we can gather here without fear. It’s the reason we can speak freely, worship freely and live freely. It’s about pausing our busy lives to say, ‘We remember, and we are grateful.’”

But remembrance, she urged, cannot merely be a passive feeling; it must transform into an active, breathing covenant in the way we treat the living.

“Memorial Day is not only about remembering the dead; it’s also about how we continue to honor them,” Col. Koester said. “We honor them when we care for their families. We honor them when we support our veterans. We honor them when we teach our children the value of service and sacrifice. And we honor them when we live lives worthy of their gift.”

Looking out at the generations gathered among the graves, she reached back to the words of Abraham Lincoln to issue a modern charge—a call to speak the names of the fallen into the wind and live with a fierce, everyday grace.

“President Lincoln, in his Gettysburg Address, spoke of the greatest task before us, to ensure that those who died shall not have died in vain,” Col. Koester explained. “That task is still ours today. So, what can we do? We can remember their names, visit a cemetery, read the inscriptions and say their names out loud. We can tell their stories, share them with your children, your neighbors and your friends. Live with gratitude. Let your daily choices reflect the freedom you’ve been given. Let us be good neighbors, and let us stand up for what is right.”

To close her address, Col. Koester let the timeless, poetic cadences of the past wash over the quiet hills of Gosport, leaving a final benediction to linger in the late morning sun.

“The poet Laurence Binyon once wrote, ‘They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them,’” she said. “May we never take them for granted. May we live lives worthy of their sacrifice, and may God bless the memory of our fallen, their families and the United States of America.”

Earlier in the program, Mike Walls delivered the opening prayer, which was followed by the Pledge of Allegiance led by 11-year-old Kayne Mills, an incoming sixth grader at Gosport Elementary School, and a rendition of the National Anthem sung by Kelly Jo Rooney. The service concluded with full military honors. The American Legion Post #230 Honor Guard of Martinsville performed a solemn three-volley rifle salute. Bringing the ceremony to a poignant close, the sharp cracks of gunfire gave way to the hauntingly beautiful notes of Taps, performed by Zondra Kale-Griffin, a bugler and treasurer for the Indiana Spirit of ‘45.