Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Memorial Day ceremony in Sunrise honors U.S. veterans
SUNRISE – Ron Collins survived the horror of the Vietnam War but has buddies who did not.
The U.S. Army veteran did his best to honor them Monday at a Memorial Day ceremony in Sunrise, where more than 200 people came to remember the nation’s war dead.
For Collins, now 75, it was a chance to pay homage to his fallen friends, as he does every year.
“It brings back memories,” said the Sunrise resident. “I try not to remember some of [those memories]. But I still support the families who lost members of their families, and that’s why it’s important to be here.”
Sunrise Mayor Mike Ryan gave an impassioned speech urging the crowd to thank the veterans whose paths they cross and to have compassion for the military families that have lost a loved one.
“Some paid the ultimate sacrifice so we could be free,” Ryan said. “We can never be content to forget.”
Tiffany Garner, a Fort Lauderdale mom who came with her husband and five children, was touched by the ceremony.
“People who didn’t even know us gave that sacrifice,” she said. “They lived so bravely and courageously. They were the best of us, and it’s so sad we had to lose them.”
Garner’s oldest son, 10-year-old Maverick, is a sea cadet who aspires to join the Navy one day.
“I hope we can build that character into our son,” she said.
Navy Lt. Commander Alan Starr read a poem, “We Remember Them,” and then he asked people in the audience to stand if they had lost a relative to war.
Jennifer Maitland stood with her husband and two young sons, wiping away tears.
“Everything about fallen soldiers, it’s just a very special day for us,” said Maitland, of Sunrise. “My brother was in the Army. My father-in-law was a Vietnam veteran in the Army. I had a grandfather in the Air Force and another grandfather in the Navy.”
While fighting in Vietnam, her father-in-law was hit by shrapnel that caused brain damage. He came home when his two sons were just babies but had to live the rest of his years in a VA hospital.
“His story was just so sad,” Maitland said. “[Attending the Memorial Day ceremony] helps my husband cope with not knowing his father.”
Sunrise Army veteran Ken Isackson served in Desert Storm. A flight engineer on a CH-47 Chinook helicopter, he and his crew were shot down twice. His crew chief did not survive.
“Today is a day I’m going to sit at home and remember my buddies,” Isackson said as the ceremony ended. “I’ll be in mourning today. I will never forget the buddies I lost.”
Yet for all the pain and suffering that came with serving his country, Isackson said he would do it all over again.
“It isn’t for nothing,” he said. “It’s for the greater good. You’re doing it so people here can have the freedom they’ve always had.”