Veteran’s mic shut off as he mentions Black history during Memorial Day speech in Ohio

An Army veteran speaking at a Memorial Day event in Hudson, Ohio, suddenly lost audio as he discussed Black people’s contribution in establishing the holiday — and the timing wasn’t a coincidence.

Lt. Col. Barnard Kemter, a retired Army combat medic who served from 1965 to 1995, said he “assumed it was a technical glitch” at the time, but event organizers appeared to have intentionally cut off his microphone, the Washington Post reported.

“I was very disappointed that someone would choose to censor my speech,” he said.

Kemter continued talking for about two minutes despite the loss of audio, discussing how, following the end of the bloody conflict, freed Black slaves memorialized Union soldiers who died during the Civil War.

Cindy Suchan, president of the Hudson American Legion Auxiliary that organized the event, said either she or Jim Garrison, adjutant of American Legion Lee-Bishop Post 464, cut off Kemter’s audio during his speech, the Akron Beacon Journal reported.

Jim Garrison, head of the American Legion Lee-Bishop Post has resigned, the Associated Press reported. Ohio American Legion leadership has asked Garrison to renounce his membership from the organization entirely.

“We asked him to modify his speech, and he chose not to do that,” Suchan told the outlet, saying the portion in question is when the mic was cut. It was “not relevant to our program for the day,” Suchan said, as the “theme of the day was honoring Hudson veterans.”

Kemter said attempted censorship is an insult to his military service.

“This is not the same country I fought for,” he told the Beacon Journal.

Following backlash, the Ohio American Legion is apologizing, and launching an investigation.

“We deeply apologize for this matter and are launching a full investigation. We sincerely apologize for any harms caused and will hold those accountable once the facts are investigated,” the organization said in a tweet.

While many communities across the U.S. can trace Memorial Day celebrations back to the post-Civil War era, a Yale researcher rediscovered a key piece of American history that changes the story of how the holiday was established, as reported by the History Channel.

Less than a month after the Confederacy surrendered, former slaves gathered at the Washington Race Course and Jockey Club in Charleston, South Carolina. It had been transformed into a prison camp toward the final days of the conflict, and more than 260 Union soldiers died there.

Buried unceremoniously in a mass grave behind the grandstands, the slaves dug the men up and gave them proper burials, decorating their new resting place with these words: “Martyrs of the Race Course.”

“If the news reports are accurate,” according to the History Channel, “the 1865 gathering at the Charleston race track would be the earliest Memorial Day commemoration on record.”

This story was originally published June 3, 2021 at 10:13 AM.