Memorial Day ceremony remembers, commemorates lives lost in service

BILOXI, Miss. (WLOX) -The theme for Monday’s Memorial Day ceremony at the Biloxi National Cemetery is simple: never forget those who fought and died for their country.

“Every time you hear a child’s laughter, remember,” said Chris Cambre, VFW District One Commander. “Every time you get to enjoy doing something that you love, remember. Every day that you wake up in this free country, remember.”

It’s a ceremony amidst the backdrop of 27,000 gravestones at the Biloxi National Cemetery, with 27,000 flags by each monument thanks to volunteers and VA staff members.

“Every day is Memorial Day for us when you get down to it,” said Albert Maxwell, cemetery director. “We are honoring veterans with a dignified burial at a national shrine every day. The volunteers that come out and make this possible, it just warms my heart.”

As Memorial Day is celebrated here and all over the nation.

“What we admire about the soldier is that he has the power of losing his own life, for the life of a larger cause,” said Col. Billy Pope, 81st Training Wing commander at Keesler Air Force Base. “That he holds his personal suffering of no account. That he flings down in the gauge of battle his all and says I will stand, or I will fall for this cause.”

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