By Chris Fennewald
Since the first known observance of Memorial Day in 1865 at a graveyard in Charleston, South Carolina, where freed slaves placed markers on 257 Union soldier graves, the somber day has evolved in name and purpose. It wasn't until 1971 that Congress declared Memorial Day to be a national holiday and rightly expanded it to include all veterans who died in war. In the process, the date was moved to the last Monday in May and for many changed the observance from one of reflection to one that extends the weekend for more barbecues and summer fun.
Sometimes it takes a strong jolt to help remember why we observe Memorial Day. Such a jolt came with the news in January that the Missouri Agri-business Development Team (ADT-IV) suffered its first casualty. Staff Sergeant Robert W. Pharris, a soldier assigned to the Nangarhar/Missouri National Guard ADT-IV, was killed January 5. He was 48 years old.
Pharris was participating in a mission when his Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle was struck by an IED (Improvised Explosive Device). Spc. Christian Romig, 24, of Kenner, La., from the 101st Airborne Division, was also killed in the attack.
I didn’t know Pharris, but like many people I learned through news reports what he did. He was a citizen soldier. He was a farmer willing and eager to help farmers in Afghanistan, despite the risks. That is what the members of ADT have done since the first team arrived in Afghanistan in 2009, after creating a unique team of agricultural experts to help Afghan farmers improve their agricultural skills.
Pharris made a difference. An expert on small ruminants, he taught villagers about feeding sheep and goats and administering vaccines. He provided suggestions for raising the animals under the most basic conditions. Back in the U.S., he raised sheep and goats on his small 36-acre Seymour, Mo., farm.
Pharris was involved in a lot of different jobs in his life, but the two he said stuck with him were working on a farm and being in the Army. He found both on ADT-IV. He was the only member of the team to learn conversational Pashtu. He interacted with nearly every local national on their forward operating base. He believed the team’s mission was the right thing to do and had already volunteered to return in April 2012 with Missouri’s next team.
Before you sink your teeth into that hamburger hot off the grill, reflect on the reason you have a day off. Say a silent thank you to those soldiers who died in the line of duty. They are not just soldiers, many are farmers, doctors, mechanics, and on and on, who protect our freedoms while showing others how to earn theirs.
(Chris Fennewald is editor of Missouri Farm Bureau publications in Jefferson City.)
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