Five names added to Red Rock war memorial

She stood up before 300 veterans, friends and family members of the fallen and told a story about her son, Budd, before he left for Iraq.

" ’Mom, just stand beside me, trust me and be proud,’ " she quoted the young Marine lance corporal saying before he deployed. Later he would be killed in combat, two weeks before Christmas in 2006.

"Of course I was (proud)," she said, her voice cracking with emotion. "I stand here because I miss him so much.

"There isn’t a pain more intense or debilitating than losing your child. It really is life changing. It’s a reality I will never get over, nor will you," said the woman who is president of Nevada Gold Star Families.

She reminded the other Gold Star moms to "always remember the good times and the sadness that came with that knock on the door that fateful day."

There are 79 names of fallen soldiers, Marines, airmen and a sailor etched in stones in the foreground of a panoramic view of the canyon’s picturesque, Aztec sandstone cliffs.

They span the alphabet from Army National Guard Capt. Clayton L. Adamkavicius of Las Vegas to Marine Sgt. Frank R. Zaehringer III of Reno.

Five more names were added Saturday: Army Sgt. Ken K. Hermogino; Army Spc. Douglas J. Green; Army Spc. Dennis James Jr.; Army Sgt. Timothy D. Sayne; and Marine Cpl. Jon-Luke Bateman.

Phil Randazzo, founder of the Defending Freedom event, offered his thoughts at the beginning of the two-hour, patriotic ceremony.

"Every year I say prayers that this is the last time we have to meet," he said.

His hope is that the war in Afghanistan will wind down as the war in Iraq has and there won’t be another name added to the stones.

But the wars have not ended soon enough, and last year, for the first time, Randazzo knew personally the family of one of the fallen and had taken the soldier out to his favorite hamburger place before he deployed.

The soldier, Green, didn’t return.

The next call he got from the soldier’s mother, Suni Erlanger, was that Green had been killed in an ambush in Afghanistan.

After the attack, Green’s father, Douglas Green, told the Review-Journal his son lived by the motto: "The other fellow first."

And that’s what heroes are about, said one speaker, retired Marine Col. Thomas Czech.

There are three levels of them, he said: the men and women who volunteer to put on the uniform; the ones who go through harm’s way to protect others; and those who made the ultimate sacrifice in combat.

After a dozen speakers including Gov. Brian Sandoval, Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., and Rep. Joe Heck, R-Nev., finished their speeches, and representatives from the rest of the delegation read letters about honoring heroes and the "unimaginable pain" the families endure, one Gold Star mother took the microphone to tell how proud she is that her son, Marine Pfc. John Lukac, fought and died for freedom.

"When you are in big pain, you never know what thoughts you might have," said Helena Lukac, who came to the United States from Hungary with her husband, Jan, to escape the grip of communism years ago.

"I think this memorial was really a nice dream," she said. "My son inspired me. I love him. There are no words in the dictionary to express myself."

Contact reporter Keith Rogers at krogers@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0308.