FORT JACKSON, S.C. - Thousands of people paused Monday at the Army's largest training base, veterans cemeteries and memorials across South Carolina to honor soldiers on Memorial Day.
At Fort Jackson, the 171st Infantry Brigade honored veterans with a 21-gun salute and a wreath presentation.
"Today is our day to say thank you to those of you for generations who have paid so dearly with your lives," said Fort Jackson commander Brig. Gen. Bradley May, who delivered the keynote address.
The beaches were packed on Hilton Head Island as vacationers enjoyed the unofficial start of summer, but at a community park, about 1,000 people gathered for a Memorial Day ceremony by the Hilton Head Island Council of the U.S. Navy League.
"I think the fact that this many people showed up shows that Hilton Head still remembers the meaning of Memorial Day," Navy League president Gene Sullivan told The Island Packet. "It's not just about hot dogs and burgers and the kick off of summer. It's about the men and women who have been willing to fight to uphold our values."
In Charleston, the traditional ceremony at Patriots Point was moved off its normal site on the aircraft carrier Yorktown and on to land by a Vietnam War memorial. Organizers said they wanted to recognize veterans of a war that is often ignored.
And in Florence, hundreds came to the veterans cemetery to honor soldiers, as well as a group of Gold Star mothers who lost their sons in war.
Keynote speaker Irene Trowell-Harris, director of the Department of Veterans Affairs Center for Women Veterans, reminded the crowd that this cemetery and national cemeteries across the U.S. are filled with brave Americans who stepped into harm's way to stand between their country and the forces of tyranny, according to the Morning News of Florence.
"We honor those brave men and women on days of sadness and days of triumph," she said. "We stand softly by their graves and consider the sacrifices they so nobly offered on behalf of a free and grateful nation."
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