Chaplain Laird Baldwin addresses the guests.
Terry Baver | The Register-Herald
BROOKVILLE — A ceremony for the installation of a Purple Heart/Gold Star Family parking sign was held at the Dayton Metro Library Brookville branch.
The sign is located in a prominent location in the Brookville branch’s parking lot.
The sign was donated to the library by Jerry H. Ferrell, a disabled military veteran and Fairborn resident whose mission is to honor Purple Heart and Gold Star Families with parking signs located throughout the state.
The intent of the designated parking is to honor and recognize the sacrifice of family members who have lost a loved one in military service.
Gold Star Family members are widows, widowers, parents, and siblings of service members who lost their lives while serving on active duty.
Purple Heart recipients are military personnel who have been wounded or killed in enemy action.
The ceremony began inside the library’s community room with the presentation of colors by the Brookville VFW Post 3288 Honor Guard.
Laird Baldwin, pastor of Bible Baptist Fellowship in Brookville and the chaplain for the Brookville and New Lebanon police departments, spoke to the guests in attendance on the relationship and the significance between the cross used to crucify Jesus and the parking sign honoring the Gold Star Families and Purple Heart recipients.
“There is a statement in the book of Galatians, Chapter six, from the Apostle Paul that is relevant to the situation,” Baldwin said.
“He made a very simple observation. He said ‘God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ’” Laird said.
Laird said he thought when Paul made that statement “he used that word cross in a figurative way because by itself, the cross was an instrument of torture, suffering and death.”
“So when the Apostle Paul talked about a cross he was giving that a significance that was much greater than what it would actually be in itself,” Laird said.
Laird said those in attendance were here to “dedicate a parking spot.”
“By itself, it’s not particularly imposing. It doesn’t draw attention like the Washington monument or any of the great memorials found in this country,” Laird said of the parking spot sign.
“We are imposing upon that structure a greater significance. Just as the Apostle Paul placed upon the cross – a greater significance,” Laird said.
Laird indicated the cross reminded him “that a battle had been waged and the sacrifice that was given and the victory that was won.”
“When Jesus talked about the cross He put it in slightly different terms. He said ‘now is the judgment of this world. Now should the prince of this world be cast out’” Laird said.
“When He spoke about the judgment He used a particular term – the word crises. The cross was a time of crisis in this world – the great battle between good and evil,” Laird said.
Laird noted “the world was brought to a crisis point through the cross of Jesus Christ.”
“We are measured today because we recognize that there was a battle waged and the monument we placed here today is a simple sign upon a post in the honor of those who have fought a battle and were wounded and in some cases they gave their lives,” Laird said.
“We recognize that in that there is a battle waged between good and evil and therefore, all together appropriate for us that we should place a monument there in their honor,” Laird continued.
Laird said he was sure “that the cross for Apostle Paul also suggested to him sacrifice. The life that was given in order that we might have life.”
“We recognize much the same with the monuments we place in this country when we place them in recognition of the lives that have been sacrificed,” Laird said.
Laird pointed out that “one of the elements of the sign out there that it recognizes the Gold Star Families. Those, who not only suffered, but lost lives or they gave their loved ones and those loved ones did not return home.”
“Those lives were given in order that you and I might have the life and the liberty that we enjoy today,” Laird said.
Laird asked if everyone was “glad to know the story doesn’t end there because there’s a victory that was won.”
“We recognize in the loss, the victory was achieved over sin, over death and over evil,” Laird said.
“It’s a small thing. A parking place at the library on the edge of Brookville, Ohio.
Not exactly a tourist attraction, but you know what I know that everyone who places their vehicle there or walks by and looks at that sign is going to remember something. There’s a family somewhere who gave a loved one. There’s someone out there that has a Purple Heart. There’s someone out there that paid the price for the freedoms you and I enjoy today,” Laird said.
“God bless those who paid that price. God bless the families that paid that price and God bless the United States of America,” Laird concluded.
Laird’s address was followed by the playing of “Taps” by Brookville Library Branch Manager Damian Kristof.
Also addressing the guests was New Lebanon resident Bonnie Bertelson, who spoke about her brother, Sgt. Richard Stamper, who was killed in action in Vietnam.
“It changed our family and all of our lives, Bertelson said when they learned Stamper was killed at the age of 21.
“My brother was killed in Vietnam on Hamburger Hill in 1967, Bertelson said.
“We buried him the day before my birthday in 1967,” Bertelson continued.
Bertelson said she can still remember someone playing “Taps” at the burial site while another person played the “Taps” echo in the distance.
“I broke down at that point. My mother, father and brothers and sisters were all crying,” Bertelson said.
“At that point, I was clinging to my mom because there were so many people. All I wanted was my brother back,” Bertelson continued.
Bertelson said her brother received two Purple Hearts.
“He was wounded six months before he died,” Bertelson said.
“He had been shipped to Hawaii to recover when the tank he was in caught fire and his hands were burned,” Bertelson continued.
Bertelson said her brother recovered from his injuries and returned to Vietnam.
Bertelson said her brother was killed while loading wounded soldiers onto a helicopter.
“He graduated in 1964 from Dixie High School and he was dead two years later,” Bertelson said.
“He was my hero,” Bertelson said, fighting back tears.
“Do not doubt my word. Gold Star Families did make sacrifices for this country. We may have not been there on the battlefield, but we sacrificed,” Bertelson said.
The following is Sgt. Gary G,. Stamper’s obituary published in the Register-Herald:
Funeral services for Sgt. Richard G. Stamper, Jr., 21, were held at 11 am. Saturday at the Evansville EUB Church, followed by interment in Sugar Grove Cemetery, New Lexington.
Stamper, a 1964 graduate of Dixie High School, New Lebanon, was fatally wounded in Vietnam on Nov. 27 by hostile mortar round fragments while on perimeter defense.
He entered the U.S. Army in May, 1966, took his basic training at Ft. Riley, Kan., and left for Vietnam Jan.8, 1967, with the 9th Infantry Division.
He landed in the Mekong Delta Jan. 27, 1967, where he received the Combat Infantryman’s Badge, and was advanced to Sp/4 in April during “Operation Junction City” in War Zone C.
While riding on a personnel carrier, the carrier exploded inflicting second degree burns. When he was able to be moved, Stamper was transferred to the 4th Infantry Division (“The Famous Fourth”) and moved to the Central Highlands where he was in constant combat near Dan To.
Survivors include his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Richard G. Stamper, Sr., West Alexandria; three brother, Paul, David and Phillip; four sisters, Rose Ann, Bonnie Joy and Mary Elizabeth, all at home; and Mrs. Susan Kinswoman, of Oxford, who teaches at Eaton High School; maternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Islam Smith, Kettering; paternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Troy Stamper, Whites burg, Ky.
Reach Terry Baver at [email protected].
