HONORING THE FALLEN
‘Wonderful crowd’ turns out for Memorial Day celebration
ROYAL PALM BEACH — The threat of wind and rain from Subtropical Storm Alberto may have dampened Memorial Day plans for many in Palm Beach County, but it didn’t stop nearly 200 worshippers from gathering Monday morning to remember America’s fallen service members.
They met at the Our Lady Queen of Peace Cemetery in Royal Palm Beach for the annual Memorial Day Mass and Wreath Laying Ceremony to honor the country’s fallen soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines.
“This is always a wonderful crowd that comes out for Memorial Day Mass,” said the Rev. Gerald Barbarito, bishop of the Palm Beach Diocese. “These are great people of faith and devotion who are here to offer their gratitude and respect to the men and women who served our country so faithfully.”
The service was an opportunity for many in attendance to pay tribute to those who served and who lost their lives in the line of duty.
“To me, it’s about honoring the service members both living and deceased,” Eagle Scout Liam McCabe said.
The 20-year-old from Wellington should know about honoring veterans — he created the cemetery’s veterans memorial for his Eagle Scout project.
“It’s important because they’re out there preserving the freedoms that we use every day,” he said.
For others, the event was about remembering specific friends and loved ones who died in the line of duty.
“I’m here mostly because my daughter served in Iraq. Her unit was ambushed and nine people died there,” Navy veteran Deirdre Krause said. “My daughter was not injured, but I came to celebrate Mass for the nine who didn’t make it.”
Krause, whose late husband is one of the nearly 1,000 veterans buried at the cemetery, said the holiday isn’t for thanking veterans, but for remembering those who gave their lives in the name of freedom.
“This is not my day,” she said. “Everyone should remember that the freedoms we enjoy came at a price.”
For one active duty Marine, the Mass was an opportunity to remember and pray for his friends who didn’t make it out of Iraq and Afghanistan.
“It’s what Memorial Day is all about, specifically those servicemen who paid the ultimate price,” Lt. Col. Jonathan Morel said. “It’s easy for people to associate Memorial Day with the start of summer, beaches and barbecue, which is great. I think that’s what those who died would love for us to be doing, to have the freedom to do it.”
Morel said seeing the people who took time out of their holiday to honor the fallen makes him proud to know the friends he lost won’t be forgotten.