CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. -- As Americans across the country paused and reflected on the service members who made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation, Chesterfield County decided to focus their Memorial Day ceremony on the Tomb of the Unknown Solider.
Several county employees designed and constructed a replica with a 3-D printer for the ceremony at the Chesterfield County Fairgrounds. The county invited a man once tasked with guarding the sacred space at Arlington National Cemetery to share its significance this Memorial Day.
Col. Stephan Ruppel-Lee has served in the Army for 25 years but spent several as the commander of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Solider. Since 1921, it has served as the final resting place of the country's unidentified service members killed in battle.
Col. Ruppel-Lee said early morning shifts, where he would stand guard alone, allowed him to consider the significance of his assignment.
"Eight billion people, and right here right now, this is my job. How did some random kid from Chagrin Falls, Ohio, get to be here?” he said. "The standard of the tomb is perfection. No one ever achieves it, but the standard is perfection. For the unknowns and what they sacrificed and what they mean to the country, be better.”
Soldiers who guard the Tomb undergo intensive training to carry out the methodical regiment 24 hours a day, every day of the year. Sgt. Ruppel-Lee said that routine means much more than ceremony.
"The sentinel who symbolizes the nation's commitment to our fallen service member," he said. "The sentinels who is there for 24 hours a day, every day, and they symbolize that we as a nation will never forget. The Sentinels' pursuit of perfection in their duties symbolizes that we as a nation, we strive to live up to the ideals that we hold sacred as a nation. Those same ideals, that those unknowns and all of our service members died for.”
The names and portraits of 16 service members from Chesterfield who were lost in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were honored Monday. During his 25 years of service, Col. Ruppel-Lee said he has seen firsthand what the sacrifice of all service members brings to bear.
"Sixteen fallen service members from Chesterfield, their sacrifices have borne out a wonderful community. And you are proof of that," Col. Ruppel-Lee said. "I have gotten to see the unsightly underbellies of many communities throughout the world. I can tell you, unequivocally, that the sacrifices dolled out on our behalf that we memorialize today. We're not done so in vain.”
Monday's ceremony was sponsored by the Chesterfield Historical Society of Virginia.
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