Medical Lake – EWU Army ROTC

EWU ROTC Cadets Plant Flags at the Washington State Veterans Cemetery in Honor of Memorial Day

05/26/2019 by jstafford3

One of the Memorial Day activities available to Cadets from the Eastern Washington University (EWU) Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) battalion to volunteer for was to plant flags at the Washington State Veterans Cemetery in Medical Lake. Seven of our Fighting Eagles Cadets supported the cemetery by planting flags at all the headstones in advance of Memorial Day. The Cadets worked their way around the expansive cemetery planting a flag and saluting each gravestone.

This volunteer initiative is part of the long standing support the EWU ROTC “Fighting Eagles” battalion has provided to the State Veterans Cemetery.

On Monday, May 27th, 2019 the official Memorial Day 2019 Ceremony will begin with a musical prelude at 10:30 AM and the official ceremony beginning at 11:00 AM at the State Veterans Cemetery. For those that have not been to the cemetery before it is located just outside of Medical Lake:

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Parking is available at the cemetery with overflow available along side the entrance road. Great job by our Fighting Eagles Cadets and our lead Cadet volunteer officer, Melinda Leen for helping the State Veterans Cemetery prepare for the ceremony.

From left: Cadets Hewey, Bergman, Erickson, Drohman, Leen, Smart, and Anderson

EWU Army ROTC Supports Wreaths Across America

12/26/2018 by jstafford3

Over the winter break many students from Eastern Washington University (EWU) immediately headed home for the holidays, but that was not the case for a group of Cadets from the EWU Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) “Fighting Eagles” Battalion. Before heading home for the holidays the Cadets stayed in the Cheney area to support the annual Wreaths Across America event. The Cadets assisted staff members from the Washington State Veterans Cemetery at Medical Lake, WA with placing wreaths on each grave site.

EWU ROTC Cadet Melinda Leen places a wreath at the Washington State Veterans Cemetery at Medical Lake, WA.

Wreaths Across America has its beginnings back in 1992 when the Maine based Worcester Wreath company found themselves with a surplus of wreaths near the end of the holiday season. Instead of disposing of the wreaths they were able to coordinate to have the wreaths placed on graves at Arlington National Cemetery. Over the years awareness about the wreath project grew to where today Wreaths Across America is a national organization placing wreaths on the graves of fallen Soldiers at over 1,200 locations across the United States. Great job by all our EWU ROTC Cadets that participated in the Wreaths Across America event.

Back row from left: Cadets Tyler Bergman, Tyler Roylance, Megan Anderson, Megan Baker, Malisa Barrier, Front Row from left: Melinda Leen, Austin Pfennig, Nicholas Null, Liam Hewey, Andrew Norby. (Not pictured: Joseph Jordan)

EWU ROTC Supports Washington State Veterans Cemetery Forgotten Heroes Interment

09/14/2018 by jstafford3

Today I had the honor of attending the Washington State Veterans Cemetery Forgotten Heroes Interment just outside of Medical Lake. The ceremony is used to provide proper burial for abandoned or unclaimed remains of veterans in the Spokane region.

Washington State Veterans Cemetery at Medical Lake.

At today’s ceremony 55 remains were interned at the Washington State Veterans Cemetery. EWU ROTC Cadet Tyler Roylance participated in the ceremony as part of the Washington State Honor Guard.

Washington State Honor Guard ready to conduct the Forgotten Heroes Ceremony (Picture courtesy of Ms. Katie Brown).

Cadet Roylance of Post Falls, Idaho is one of the Simultaneous Membership Program (SMP) Cadets enrolled in the EWU ROTC program while also serving in the Washington State National Guard. While conducting monthly guard drill duty an SMP Cadet is paired with and mentored by a National Guard officer. The program also allows Cadets to participate in highly selective National Guard activities such as the Washington State Honor Guard.

Cadet Tyler Roylance (2nd from left) conducts Honor Guard duties at the Forgotten Heroes Ceremony.

After conducting Honor Guard duties Cadet Roylance also participated in helping to intern one of the remains at the cemetery:

Cadet Tyler Roylance interns remains during the Forgotten Heroes Ceremony.

More pictures from the Forgotten Heroes Ceremony can be viewed on the EWU ROTC Flickr page. It was a fantastic job by the Washington State Veterans Cemetery, the National Guard, and the local veteran community for putting together such a memorable event to honor these forgotten heroes.