The annual Memorial Day tribute at Stones River National Battlefield today honored living vetersns and remembered the fallen.
Hundreds of lookers-on gathered at 1:30 P.M. for the pledge of allegiance, followed by “The Star Spangled Banner,” sung by students from Oakland High School.
At the nearby cemetery, a small flag at the headstone of each grave provided the backdrop as Ben Leming, who only ten days ago was in Iraq on combat helicopter duty, remembered three recently fallen heroes.
A three-hundred-plus name roll call was read to honor veterans have fallen since last May. Several of them recently were lost in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A flowered wreath of red, white, and blue was placed on the edge of the cemetery.
The program, including a twenty-one-gun salute by 9th Kentucky Regiment followed by “Taps” played by Technical Sergeant Gilbert Laforest, Vietnam veteran. Said the horn player, such ceremonies “show our youth,” and keep veterans’ memories alive. They make him “feel honored to be in the armed forces and know that people do care for what [he’s] done.”
The program ended with the retirement of the colors, after which hot dogs and lemonade were served.
Local scout troops placed the headstone flags.
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