MECHANIC FALLS – Members of the police, fire and rescue departments answered Stephen Kilbreth’s call to step forward and join 16 military veterans who stood before Sunday morning’s gathering in the Elm Street School gymnasium.

“Look these men in the eyes. They are the backbone of our community. Folks who, for us, put themselves in harm’s way,” said Kilbreth.

The hundred and more still seated rose with applause and, on Kilbreth’s prompt, offered a course of hearty “thank-yous.”

Gary Purington, past commander of American Legion Post 150, had brought greetings from the post and the request that all veterans be honored, with special honor to those who have given the ultimate as well as to those giving in wars today.

Kilbreth, pastor of Mechanic Falls’ Advent Christian Church, expanded the call for remembering, honoring and thanking to include all the men and women who “serve and protect their community and their country and provide us with the freedom and security we all enjoy.”

Featured speaker for the memorial service was former U.S. Army Ranger Sgt. Kyle Smith, who served in both Afghanistan and Iraq after 9/11.

Smith, Kilbreth’s nephew, who moved from Mechanic Falls when he was six, was seriously wounded in a car bomb attack in Iraq that killed three of his fellow Rangers and wounded another.

Smith told how, on April 3, 2003, his platoon was in western Iraq stopping vehicles on the road from Baghdad to the Syrian border, checking for members of Saddam Hussein’s regime who might be trying to flee the country.

“At 18:15 on April 3 a white SUV approached,” Smith began.

Two days later Smith woke in a hospital across the Jordanian border, trying to put the pieces together: Three people in the vehicle, a man and two women, one obviously pregnant and crying out that she was in labor pain; he and his buddies moved in, M-4s trained on the vehicle, eight meters away, a blinding brilliant flash and, upon learning the fates of his companions, the tears began.

Smith, with the support of his wife and family, has recovered sufficiently so he now serves as a police officer in a town near Cincinnati, Ohio.

He next recalled his recovery, in particular his spiritual recovery and his quest to understand why anyone, especially a pregnant women, would want to blow themselves up, and why his life had been spared.

Smith said that reflection had taught him this: All things work together for good.

“I know that they do, but I don’t know why. I have to believe God has something in store for us down the road,” he said.

And Smith said he has come to understand that one thing connects all veterans: “They are Americans and they love their country. We are one nation under God. That’s what makes this country what it is, so special.”

Following the ceremony, which included spirited renditions of the “Star Spangled Banner” and “America, The Beautiful,” veterans, police, first responders and their families were treated to a buffet dinner at American Legion Post 150.