A Small Town In America
Story & photos by SSG Jonathan Crane - Posted Jun, 1999
Click Here to Visit Ephrata City Website
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The citizens of Ephrata, Washington recently held their annual "Sage 'n Sun Festival" right on schedule. But this year there was a special reason to celebrate.
Their long campaign to keep their Army National Guard unit in the face of pending cutbacks has paid off. The 1161st Transportation Company is in Ephrata to stay!
Three and a half years ago the town of Ephrata faced the imminent loss of its Washington Army National Guard armory during a period of post closures. By its determination to keep its armory a united community dedicated itself to working with the Guard to convince the State of Washington to keep it. The 1161st Transportation Company was saved from deactivation and now begins a new era as a reformed, state-of-the-art transportation facility. This unit has been equiped with the Army's latest transportation system - the Palletized Load System, or PLS.
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We Americans can remember another era of unchanged values and the simplicity of life in small towns across America. We remember summer baseball and twilight evenings, and the security of shared values and of knowing our neighbors. This period of our history is characterized by the high regard and deep appreciation a town’s people had for its servicemen and women, and of the enduring loyalty and pride felt for the traditions and values of our country.
Perhaps seen through the amber of nostalgic remembrance, preserved in a small town in eastern Washington, are the values and shared community beliefs we Americans still choose to think of as the bedrock of our national life. Recently the town of Ephrata chose to honor its own tradition with its annual Sun and Sage Festival.
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Participating in the festival, among all the other community members, were the members of the Washington National Guard who drill at the armory in the heart of town.
Accepting an invitation to be the grand marshal of the annual parade, Brig. Gen. Lee Legowick, Assistant Adjutant General of the Washington National Guard, and Commander of the Washington Army National Guard was an honored and welcome guest.
The atmosphere on that day was of a Fourth-of-July celebration in any small town of our collective remembrance, with its parade floats and bands, children and horseback riders, of anyone and everyone being a welcome participant.
It was a day of community celebration of a fashion often considered by some to be of bygone days. Townspeople lined the streets and placed their hands over their hearts as the color guard marched past with the nation’s flag.
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Speaking in front of the county courthouse at the dedication of this year’s festival, General Legowik remarked upon the strong bond between the citizen-soldiers of the Washington Army National Guard and the community. He spoke of seeing not a crowd of strangers but a family.
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General Legowik visited the 1161st Transportation Company (PLS) (Palletized Load System) as an honored guest at the Ephrata unit’s official transition from a light medium truck company to a state-of-the-art palletized load system facility. From a guard unit on the verge of extinction to its renaissance, the 1161st Transportation Company and the town of Ephrata are a story of the success of a community of enduring values.
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