Colonel Andrea Stahl, now retired, served in the U.S. Army. Not in the positions most think of, like the infantry or artillery. Colonel Stahl spent her career as a medical service officer, first as a military ambulance platoon leader and later on working to support medical research.
Most people, Colonel Stahl said, don’t realize the importance of medical research in the army. Our servicemen face injuries and illnesses not common to civilians.
For example, Colonel Stahl shared the story of Dr. Leonard Smith. He worked at Ft. Detrick as a lead investigator developing a Ricin Vaccine. Smith’s son David, joined the Marines right out of high school.
“By all accounts, he was a wonderful young man,” she said. “His father said he joined the Marines because he wanted to make a difference and he felt strongly about putting the lives of others ahead of his own.”
David was killed January of 2010 by a suicide bomber in Afghanistan. He was on guard duty at a local market. David was buried in section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery, where his father and his family come to visit several times a year.
It’s stories like the Smith family that represent why Renewal & Remembrance takes place each year. Those who volunteer are doing so as a way to give back to those who gave the most for their country.
This year, at the 23rd annual Renewal & Remembrance which started Monday, hundreds of landscape professionals, suppliers and their families were on site ready to work. Split into multiple teams and spread throughout the over 400,000 grave sites, volunteers spread lime, evaluated irrigation systems, planted flowers and aerated the grounds.
“As you walk and work these grounds, 31 Americans will be interned in the earth,” said Ken Taylor, the general sales manager of John Deere's Corporate Business Division. “It is to these defenders of freedom and the American way of life, that we now dedicate our work at Arlington National Cemetery,” he said.
On Tuesday, NALP will host education sessions to help landscape professionals work together with the government on policies and procedures to benefit the industry. Later in the week, attendees will have the opportunity to meet with state representatives on Capitol Hill for the annual Legislative Days. Look for coverage of Legislative Days in an up coming issue of Lawn & Landscape.