Beaufort Memorial Day celebration reminds us ‘freedom is not free’

As a member of the Parris Island Marine Band sounded taps Monday in Beaufort’s National Cemetery, veterans, their families and those still serving looked across the gravestones in celebration of the cemetery’s 120th Memorial Day Ceremony and remembrance of the lives sacrificed for freedom.

“We must never forget the families of the fallen,” keynote speaker Lt. Gen. Claudia Kennedy said to the crowd of hundreds. “Children will still be missing a parent; spouses will still be missing their partner. We need to be there for them.”

Kennedy served in the U.S. Army for 32 years and was the first female to gain the rank of lieutenant general. Her address at the ceremony was followed by the laying of the Memorial Wreath at the entrance of the cemetery and a ceremony to remember prisoners of war and those missing in action.

“Freedom is not free,” James Johnston, of Port Royal, said from the van he drove in the parade for the Disabled American Veterans Transportation Network. “The freedom that we do enjoy is ensured by the veterans who are out there. Freedom is there because somebody died to keep it.”

Johnston said he served in Vietnam as a Marine Corps infantryman for nine years before serving an additional 12 years in the National Guard.

Today, he volunteers to drive veterans to receive medical treatment in area counties.

Johnston joined other veterans in Beaufort’s Memorial Day parade Monday morning. The parade began at the cemetery then continued down Boundary Street and wound through Carteret, Bay and Bladen streets.

“It’s about remembering the past and those that served and are no longer here,” Michael Akey, president of the Lowcountry chapter of the Military Officers Association of America, said.

Akey’s sentiments were echoed by the crowd at the cemetery’s ceremony, where attendees shook veterans’ hands to thank them for their service.

“If a nation does not honor her heroes, she will not sustain her freedom,” the Rev. Dr. Sam Spain said to the crowd.

On hallowed ground: Tales from Beaufort National Cemetery

 

May 25, 2015 Behind a brick wall along Boundary Street, America's past lies in tidy rows. They all are united in this place. As Americans. As heroes. Here are some of their stories. | READ

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This story was originally published May 30, 2016 at 4:52 PM with the headline "Beaufort Memorial Day celebration reminds us ‘freedom is not free’."