One veteran’s special way to honor his comrades

Memorial Day, on the last Monday in May, has been designated to honor especially those who have died in service to our country. As in many communities, in the small village of Savannah, there will be music, speeches and a parade to the cemetery, finishing with taps being played at the grave of last veteran to be buried there.

Savannah has been fortunate to have the same man, Richard “Dick” Algeo, play those haunting notes, sometimes with his daughters or granddaughter to sound the echo. Dick, wearing the same uniform he came back from war in, has done this faithfully now for 73 consecutive years.

In 1945, Dick volunteered for the U.S. Navy and was assigned to a troop transport and then destroyer for trips across the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Instead of “seeing the world” he served below deck as a boiler tender, with temperatures there often 140 degrees. After World War II, he was in the Naval Reserve until 1951.

With his military service and playing trumpet in his high school and later college bands, it easily followed that he would play taps at the funerals for veterans and so he did for more than 60 years.

He has been a member of the American Legion Post 88 in Ashland for decades and the commander of the local post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. In October 2010, with a special permit from the National Park Service, Dick played taps at the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C., in honor of all veterans. Visitors to the site from other groups and states, stopped and were silent in respect for the short but moving ceremony.

Dick also has an admirable record as an educator for 66 years in various schools in Wayne, Holmes and Ashland counties. After being a teacher and school administrator, he became a volunteer instructor for the Adult Literacy Basic Education program, helping dozens of individuals, including some in the county jail, earn their high school equivalent degree. Many also benefited from his being a Savannah Lions Club member and helping with numerous community projects.

As with most of his generation, this gentleman volunteered and then did his duty well, without fanfare for his country, family and community.

When asked why he started and continued this brief but ever so important task of sounding that final tribute of taps, his reply is that he has always considered it a privilege to be able to do so.

For many years on Memorial Day, Dick would take the entire family, play in Fredericksburg, then rush off to Millersburg and finally in Savannah. In gratitude for his devotion to that tradition of playing on Memorial Day so faithfully, a granite marker with his picture and a commendation has been placed in a prominent place at the Savannah cemetery so his inspiring achievement will be remembered.

Dick Algeo, just one of hundreds of thousands of veterans whose lives and dedication as patriots and outstanding citizens, have been in their own quiet ways the foundation of our society. As their numbers shrink, this Memorial Day could be an opportunity to acknowledge, appreciate and thank them for their service, especially those who take the time to sound the haunting notes of that final musical tribute.

Judy Kocab of rural Ashland is a farmland preservation advocate and active community volunteer.

CREDIT: JULDY KOCAB GUEST