Heroic Community Rally Rescues Fort Custer Veterans Day Celebration Amid Looming Shutdown

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ROSS TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) — The repercussions of the federal government shutdown are becoming increasingly evident as it persists.

This Wednesday, national cemeteries across the United States revealed that if the government remains closed through Tuesday, they will be unable to host their usual Veterans Day events.

Typically, Fort Custer National Cemetery is responsible for arranging a stage, sound system, seating, and a ceremonial flyover for its Veterans Day observance. This year, those plans are jeopardized. However, local communities are rallying to ensure the event proceeds as planned.

“Let’s show those guys in Washington that they aren’t going to stop us,” Col. Frank Walker expressed to News 8. “We are determined to hold a Veterans Day program at Fort Custer National Cemetery on the scheduled date.”

Col. Walker, who serves as the president of the Military Support Groups of America and chairs the Fort Custer National Cemetery Advisory Committee, has leveraged his network to gather the necessary resources and infrastructure over the past few days to keep the event on track.

“We owe our gratitude and not silence and that’s what it would be it would be, silence on Veterans Day, and as a community we cannot do that,” he said. “We’re at a point now where they are getting a lot of the things they would have provided. (Now) the community is going to provide them.”

That includes the stage, loudspeakers and chairs. They even were able to organize a flyover to kick off the ceremony at 11 a.m. Walker said the outpouring of support was incredible, but not shocking.

“It certainly means a lot to me as a fellow veteran but I’ll tell you I didn’t expect anything less,” he said. “I’ve been with these people for 75 years. I grew up with them and I knew these folks would come together.”

For those at the cemetery who are barred from helping out, the volunteers are a welcome relief on what will be a challenging day.

“The men and women who work at the cemetery and work at the V.A. hospital and federal center all want to be involved,” Walker said. “It hurts them to have to step aside and watch us do this. They are patriots too.”

With the ceremony now mostly reassembled, Col. Walker said it may be hard to forget why the massive effort was necessary in the first place.

“(Service members) not getting a paycheck, while our legislators get paychecks. I’m not going to get into the politics of it,” he said, frustrated. “For me, you are talking about, in many cases, men and women that served our nation at war so we can have the freedoms we enjoy and be the envy of the world, and we can’t pay them? And we’re the greatest nation on earth? That’s not a Democrat or Republican statement that’s an American statement.”

He added that organizers will likely need help setting everything up on Tuesday, so anyone who would like to volunteer can arrive at the cemetery and walk in as a member of the public around 10 a.m.

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Heroic Community Rally Rescues Fort Custer Veterans Day Celebration Amid Looming Shutdown

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Heroic Community Rally Rescues Fort Custer Veterans Day Celebration Amid Looming Shutdown

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