As retired Air Force colonel John Fraser walked the rows of headstones at Crown Hill, he remembered his more than 27 years of service. He spent half of his time on duty abroad in strategically important places like Mogadishu, Somalia, Korea and Germany.

“I never really saw combat other than traveling around Mogadishu with eyes wide open,” he said as he checked soldiers off his list. “It was ugly over there. We were supporting the relief effort and getting grain out to the feeding centers and maintaining a tent city at the airport.”

Fraser was a civil engineer in a combat unit. He had enlisted in 1967 while a teenager from the Appalachian Mountains. He became a mechanic for the Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missile program in service with the Air Force Global Strike Command. “I’m probably one of the few that didn’t end up in Vietnam. But being in the Minuteman system, there were only seven places in the world you could go and they were all mostly in the western United States.”

In his early years of service Fraser finished his degree in engineering and fell in love with the Cowboy State. He will never forget the fallen. 

“It’s an honor to do this; to recognize their contributions. A lot of them gave it all, coming home in a box,” he said after checking three more names off his list, saluting each.

He continues to serve, both as a member of the American Legion and on the Post 26 Honor Guard. He also supports charities to help soldiers injured in war zones. The Tunnels to Towers Foundation is one of his top priorities. The organization builds housing for those coming home from war with special physical needs, giving them independence in the form of mortgage-free homes built specifically for their individual exigencies.

“A lot of people came home without limbs,” he said.

Fraser was joined by several Legion members, as well as volunteers from the Powell community.

Former Park County law enforcement officer Bruce Olson, accompanied by his grandson Kade Kirk, pointed to a headstone of a service member who received the Silver Star, the third-highest military decoration for valor in combat. 

“He was a hero,” Olson told his reverent progeny.

Olson never served in the Armed Forces, but comes from a family of filled service members, including his son, Gunnar, who has been in the Army for the past 12 years and has deployed to Afghanistan three times. He also has several family members — who served — buried at Crown Hill.

“My father-in-law was career Air Force. He’s buried here. His brother was in the Navy during Vietnam. He’s buried here.”

His father also served, fighting during World War II in the Navy. He came to the cemetery to volunteer out of a sense of duty to honor all who served. Olson’s son has lost several friends in combat. He once told his father it always bothers him that people have a big barbecue, and say, “Happy Memorial Day.” 

“He lost friends in Afghanistan, men he’ll never see again. It’s not a happy day,” Olson said, relaying the sentiment from his son. “I got to thinking that he’s right, you know, so this is our way to honor the fallen.”

He spent the time with his grandson both bonding and teaching him about service. “It’s the sacrifices that so many people have made that allows us to be able to do this. And to be able to go to church where we want and be able to say what we want. We wouldn’t have freedoms and liberties if it wasn’t for veterans.”

American Legion Post 26 Commander Russell Stafford, who deployed abroad multiple times in the ’90s, said volunteers included members of the American Legion Auxiliary, Sons of the American Legion and several volunteers from the community.

He noted that Memorial Day was originally instituted to honor military members who fell in combat. Now it is a day to honor all members of the military who have passed away, and first responders, “all the way across the board,” he said.

“Everybody that has served our country; everybody’s got scars.”

His personal scars are soothed by the outpouring of work and continued support by those in the Powell community. “We can’t thank our volunteers enough for this. It was fantastic.”