SALISBURY, MD - Veterans, military families and neighbors gathered Monday morning at the Wicomico Civic Center to honor the lives of 191 local fallen service members on Memorial Day.
The memorial was conceived by local veterans in 2002 and erected one year later.
With each service branch flag waving in before the inscription "Here we mark the price of freedom,” members of the War Memorial Committee read each of the names listed on the bronze plaques behind them.
"We are here this morning to remember and give honor to the men and women whose love of liberty was so deeply embedded in their hearts," said Pastor Dean DeFino, who prayed over Monday morning's ceremony.
For the Salisbury American Legion Post 64 Commander Bill Hagen, the event encompasses the appropriate observance of Memorial Day.
“I don’t feel that enough people set the time aside for Memorial Day to recognize the sacrifices,” Hagen said. "It's about a lot more than hotdogs and hamburgers."
The Commander was one of many veterans who participated in a local "flags-in" tradition over the weekend.
Two of the names read aloud Monday stood out to Hagen — Perry Farmer, a World War I soldier killed in 1918, and Pfc. Edward L. Johnson.
"I happened to put a flag on two of these men's graves," Hagen said. "They never got to see, have a family or see grandchildren or anything like that. We may not know them but we owe them."
The ceremony also included a lowering of colors by the Wicomico County JROTC, but organizer and U.S. Army veteran Anthony Sarbanes said, notably, no guest speakers.
"How many times do people go and hear a speaker, and then a week later, you say, "Well, what did they talk about?" Sarbanes questioned. "They say, "I don't remember a thing they talked about."
Sarbanes said he hopes preserving the focus of the event each year will prevent those who paid the ultimate sacrifice from being forgotten.