Jim Podein does just about the same thing every Memorial Day.
The U.S. Army veteran heads to Linn Grove Cemetery from his west Greeley home and parks toward the northeast corner — giving himself plenty of time for the event’s start.
Once 9 a.m. rolls around, he finds a spot near the back and quietly takes it in. Most years he’s fighting to hold back tears. And most years it’s a losing battle, he said.
When the smoke has cleared from the 21-gun salute and the last note of taps has rang out from the bugle, he makes his way to the section of headstones just behind the bell tower.
His reason for the yearly routine is a simple one.
“I have the honor of being alive and coming back,” said Podein, who served in Vietnam. “It could have been any of us.”
Jim Podein, a U.S. Army veteran who served in Vietnam, looks solemnly at the graves of fallen soldiers Monday, May 26, 2025, at Greeley's annual Memorial Day ceremony at Linn Grove Cemetery. (Chris Bolin/Staff Reporter).Podein was one of hundreds who braved the overcast skies and wet grass at Linn Grove Monday morning for the city’s annual Memorial Day ceremony. Those who hung around were rewarded with the sun finally peeking through the clouds as the Rev. Danny Perdew — accompanied by the Tabernacle Faith choir — closed out the ceremony with an original song.
Memorial Day, first called Decoration Day, began as a day of remembrance for Union soldiers who died in the Civil War. After World War I, Memorial Day evolved to commemorate all military personnel who were killed on duty. It was celebrated annually on May 30 for more than a century.
Legislation passed in 1968 moved the holiday to the last Monday in May, to increase long weekends for federal employees. The Uniform Monday Holiday Act also moved Washington’s Birthday to the third Monday in February and Veterans Day to to the fourth Monday in October.
In 1978, Veterans Day was moved back to Nov. 11, the date of the end of World War I.
At this year’s ceremony, guest speaker George A. Smith, president of the Long’s Peak chapter of the Colorado Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, dug a little deeper into how the day came to be.
He spoke of the first official Memorial Day recognized on May 30, 1868. He spoke of how John A. Logan, a major general in the Union Army, chose the date because flowers across the country would be in bloom to place on graves, and how there had been no battles recorded on the date in America’s still-young history.
“Thus, there was peace on that day,” Smith said.
And, for that reason, he wishes Memorial Day would be celebrated on May 30 every year, the way Logan intended.
Smith closed by talking about what the day means to him personally. He detailed a long family history of service, stretching all the way back to the Revolutionary War and ending with those who didn’t make it through their service.
Because as Korean War veteran and Purple Heart recipient Howard William Osterkamp said more than 50 years ago: “All gave some, some gave all.”
The headstone of Cpl. Marvin L. Camp dons flowers and a coin, placed as a tribute, Monday, May 26, 2025, at Greeley's annual Memorial Day ceremony at Linn Grove Cemetery. (Chris Bolin/Staff Reporter) Read More Details
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