HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- The Huntsville community took a patriotic stand Monday when hundreds of red, white and blue clad residents joined with the area's veterans at Maple Hill Cemetery to remember those who gave their lives in defense of the nation.
The traditional Memorial Day observance, now in its 10th year, included a wreath laying ceremony by 40 military organizations, a rifle salute, patriotic music by the Huntsville Concert Band and a Salute to the Fallen by retired Brig. Gen. Joe Stringham. The 1st Patriot Support Corps presented the colors and Nate Perry of Young Marines led the Pledge of Allegiance. The observance was hosted by the Redstone-Huntsville Chapter of the Association of the U.S. Army, the North Alabama Veterans and Fraternal Organizations Coalition and the City of Huntsville.
The national observance of Memorial Day is a "sacred day to all Americans and especially to war veterans," said master of ceremonies Joe Fitzgerald, the area's civilian aide to the Secretary of Defense.
"This is a day Americans reconnect with their history and core values. Our nation has lost more than 1 million who have paid for freedom with their lives. We are here because of them. Their lives taken in war are the price of our nation."
The eight Gold Star families among the event's special guests -- the families of Staff Sgt. Jeffrey Hall, 1st Lt. Scott Love, Air Force Maj. Jeffrey Ausborn, Staff Sgt. Jonathan Dean, Chief Warrant Officer 2 Edward Goodloe, Cpl. Andrew Chris, Spc. Paul Knack and Staff Sgt. Dennis Springer -- were recognized by keynote speaker Brig. Gen. Douglas Gabram, the Aviation and Missile Command's commander.
"They represent for us all the families who have lost a loved one in wartime," Gabram told the crowd gathered at the cemetery's veterans memorial.
"These families chose to be here today to keep the memory of their loved ones alive. We are humbled by your sacrifice, inspired by your resilience, and thankful for your continued service to communities across America."
Gabram has seen the loss of lives to war firsthand. As the chief of staff for the 1st Cavalry Division in Afghanistan in 2011-12, he attended every ramp ceremony for the 143 fallen Soldiers whose remains were sent home on the back of a C-130 or C-141.
"How do you really measure the loss of our veterans?" he asked. "In the number who have given the ultimate sacrifice and not returned home from a combat zone? In the number of times an American flag is folded before being handed to a family at a military funeral? Or in the number of shots fired and notes played in Taps?
"We cannot measure the grief in a parent's heart or in a child's eyes when they find out their son or daughter, father or mother is not coming home."
The Memorial Day observance not only honors fallen service members, Gabram said, but also "the ideas and values they stood for, and died defending -- courage, pride, determination, selflessness, dedication to duty and great personal integrity, all the qualities needed to serve a cause greater than themselves."
Gabram said the observance also honors the families of those fallen service members, who "live each day knowing the sacrifice that has been asked of them by our nation -- to live without the loved one whom they honor today. The memory of their fallen service member is still alive today among us, in our communities and throughout our nation. These families stand up over and over again to remind us that our nation is strong because of their fallen heroes."
He mentioned three of those most recent local heroes -- 1st Lt. Scott Love, killed when an explosive device detonated near his Humvee in Ramadi, Iraq, on June 7, 2006; Staff Sgt. Jeffrey Hall, killed on June 1, 2009, in Afghanistan when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle; and Cpl. Andrew Chris, who was killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom on June 25, 2003, and is the first from Madison County and one of the first from Alabama to die in the Global War on Terrorism.
"Although a simple 'thank you,' handshake, hug or laying a wreath doesn't bring a loved one back, today is an opportunity to pause and remember heroes," Gabram said. "It's an opportunity to remind family and friends, that just because their Soldier, sailor, airmen or Marine has fallen, they will never be forgotten."
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