Fallen comrades and living veterans were honored at this year’s Memorial Day ceremonies on St. Thomas. The ceremony began at 9:30 a.m. at Western Cemetery No. 1 with a prayer salute to departed comrades, followed by a traditional 21-gun salute and a rendition of “TAPS.”
The morning was hot with spots of rain, but the military men and women present, veterans and soldiers alike, marched in full uniform to honor those that died serving their country.
Veterans led the parade and proceeded to the Emile White Memorial for a Seaside Service.
Lt. Gov. Gregory Francis and Sen. Clarence Payne III were among the officials marching in the parade. The JROTC from both Charlotte Amalie High School and Ivanna Eudora Kean High School were also in attendance, as well as the Addelita Cancryn Junior High School percussion section, Junior Firefighters, Girl Scouts and a few others.
Drum beats echoed in the morning air. A sparse group of supporters gathered and followed on the sidelines.
At the Emile White Memorial there was another prayer and salute to departed comrades. As the marchers faced the sea in solemn respect, a wreath of red and white roses was thrown into the swaying waves.
After another 21-gun salute and rendition of “Taps,” the veterans and their entourage made their way down Main Street. Tourists and workers exited stores to take pictures, pay their respects and listen to the percussive rhythms as the parade passed.
The ceremony culminated with a bandstand program in Franklin D. Roosevelt Veterans Park where officials, veterans, military men and their families enjoyed shade under a large tent. A small group of citizens also gathered in the park for the last leg of the ceremony.
Payne spoke on the origins and importance of Memorial Day, suggesting that the first observation of what came to be Memorial Day took place in Charleston, S.C., on May 1, 1865, “when a group of newly freed African Americans, after properly burying 257 Union soldiers that had been cast into a mass grave by the Confederacy, held a parade attended by over 10,000 people, followed by a ceremony,” the senator said.
“The observation of Memorial Day has its roots in the initiation of freedom among the poorest and most powerless residents of the land.”
Keynote speaker and Vietnam War veteran Lee Carl Whitaker offered some words on the purpose of Memorial Day. “We are here today to honor our service members and to remember the sacrifices they have made and the courage it takes to defend honor, duty and country.”
“We are here to honor our heroes and “sheroes,” and say thank you for their sacrifices,” Whitaker said.
Whitaker continued later, “Your presence here today – and the people all across America – is a tribute to those lost troops and their families. This is a way to say, ‘We remember,’ from the soldiers who shivered and starved through the winter at Valley Forge to the dough boys crouching in the muddy trenches of France to the platoon that patrolled the hazy jungles of Vietnam and the men and women patrolling the mountains of Afghanistan as we speak. We remember and we honor them all,” he concluded.
The ceremony ended the lieutenant governor officiating over the laying of wreaths for the branches of the military and a roll call for fallen heroes over the last year. The firing squad pointed its guns to the sky for a final time and the bugler played mournfully for those lost.