Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
Two Gold Star Families were honored Thursday during the Zimmer Biomet Veterans Resource Group’s Memorial Day Wreath-Laying Ceremony at the Zimmer Biomet Center Lake Pavilion.
Guest speaker at the annual event was Ltc. Matthew B. Hoover.
The Gold Star Family designation indicates a member of one’s family was lost during combat operations, said master of ceremonies Jim Waldrop, a member of the Zimmer Biomet VRG leadership team.
Thursday, they honored the father of Marine Lance Cpl. Lance M. Thompson, Greg Thompson; and mother of Spc. Eric Lembke, Saundra Sejak, and her husband Jim Sejak. The families laid the wreath together for the ceremony, followed by a three-volley salute to the fallen and the playing of Taps.
Waldrop presented mementos to the families after reading the information on Lance and Lembke.
Lance was born March 26, 1983, at Ball Hospital in Muncie. He went to elementary and high school in the Eastbrook School System, graduating in spring 2001.
“He and a couple of his classmates and a cousin all enlisted in the United States Marine Corp, and they all shipped off to B camp in California, the day after 9/11,” Waldrop said.
After boot camp, Lance married his high school sweetheart and moved to Oceanside, Calif., just outside of Camp Pendleton where Lance was based.
He was trained as a radio operator and deployed to Iraq in 2003, where he was attached to a Marine attack unit.
“He was calling in air and ground assets at the command of the battalion commander,” Waldrop said. “He rotated back to the United States in 2004, when he was then deployed back to Iraq, assisting patrolling an insurgency, which was financed and supported by Iran.”
On Nov. 15, 2004, Lance was a radio operator for his commander. They were on a routine patrol in Ramadi, Iraq in the Anbar province, when a white pickup truck came out of an alley and began passing the convoy. A warning shot was to be fired in front of the pickup truck to get them to leave, but as the gunner came around to fire, the truck sped up and pulled alongside and - with a half ton of explosives - exploded, killing everyone in the Humvee except for the top gunner.
Lembke was a 2002 graduate of Plant City (Fla.) High School, but was born in Indiana.
“He wanted to be an Army man, as his mother would say, and he would call himself an Army man. He was so full of life. He also had a wife and two children, and planned to retire here in Warsaw once he left the Army,” Waldrop said.
In 2009, Lembke was a specialist for the 569th Mobility Augmentation Co., 4th Engineer Battalion, stationed out of Fort Carson, Colo.
On Oct. 23, 2009, he made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of the nation supporting Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan.
“It was on this day that he gave the ultimate sacrifice in service to his country, and posthumously he was awarded the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star and numerous other medals that were provided to his family,” Waldrop said.
After receiving the memento from the Zimmer Biomet VRG, Greg Thompson said, “As a Marine, Lance volunteered. He wanted to serve his country, and, unfortunately, came in harm’s way and paid the ultimate sacrifice. Thank you, Zimmer Biomet and all of you, for recognizing my son’s sacrifice.”
Saundra Sejak said, “I just want to say thank you to all of you for coming and having us here. It is a great honor to be here and doing what you’re doing for us, so I just want to say thank you.”
In introducing Hoover as the guest speaker, Waldrop said Hoover is the chief of operations for the 310th Expeditionary Sustainment Command, Indianapolis. Hoover is a Pennsylvania native, enlisting in the U.S. Army Reserves in 2001. He spent six years enlisted in the Army Reserves and deployed in Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003 before commissioning through the ROTC in the Quartermaster Corp in 2007.
Hoover has held numerous command and leadership positions. He’s a graduate of many Army professional development courses, and his military awards and decorations include a Meritorious Service Medal with Four Oak Leaf Clusters and “R” Device, Army Commendation Medal, Three Oak Leaf Clusters, the Army Achievement Medal and more.
“I’m honored to be here. I’m proud to represent the 310th ESC,” Hoover said. “... We gather here today really in solemn remembrance, during a time set aside by a grateful nation to honor those who gave their lives in service to the great nation.”
While many people recognize the next few days as the beginning of summer, a long weekend or even a time they can gather with family, he said Memorial Day carries a much more deeper meaning.
“It’s a sacred obligation we all have. It’s a time to pause, it’s a time to reflect and it’s a time to remember the men and women of the United States Armed Forces who stood in harm’s way and did not return home. Behind every name carved in a headstone, every folded flag is a long story of courage, sacrifice and of devotion to ideals that are greater than one’s self. These were the soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, Guardians and Coast Guardsmen who raised their right hand and accepted the risk that freedom demands,” Hoover stated.
They served not for the recognition, but out of duty to protect their fellow Americans and to preserve their beliefs upon which the nation was originally founded, he continued. “Today, as we lay this wreath, we do more than honor their memory. Each of us affirms our pledge to never forget them. The wreath symbolizes our enduring gratitude, our promise that their sacrifice will not fade with time. It represents community here in Warsaw and the greater Hoosier state that remembers. We also recognize the families who have the burden of that sacrifice.”
Hoover said the loss is immeasurable, and their strength is a quiet tribute to the cost of our freedom.
“We stand with them not only today but always,” he said.
It is our responsibility to ensure that their sacrifice was not in vain, he said, and that those freedoms they secured endure across future generations.
“In closing, the laying of the wreath is a symbol of our respect, Eric, Lance and others. Let us serve as a reminder that though their lives were cut short, their legacy survives, which enables the strength of our nation, the freedoms that each of us cherish and the lives that we lead. So all who gave their lives in defense of the nation, we remember you, we honor you and we thank you. May God bless our fallen soldiers, their families and the United States of America,” Hoover concluded.
Waldrop recognized all the veterans in attendance at the start of the ceremony; the color guard from the Warsaw Community High School Junior ROTC Battalion; the honor detail, made up of members from the Veterans of Foreign Wars 1126 and American Legion Post 49; the Fort Wayne Scottish Pipes & Drum Corp for providing the music; senior leadership from Zimmer Biomet in attendance; representatives of the Warsaw mayor’s office, Warsaw Police Department, Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory, Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office; and World War II veteran Charlie Garner.
