On Monday, the American Legion Fairfax Post 177 and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 8469 held a Memorial Day ceremony to honor Fairfax, Virginia residents who died while serving the United States of America in the U.S. Armed Forces.
Around 100 people gathered to hear the names of each Fairfax resident who lost their lives serving their country since World War I.
“Let’s not forget that it falls upon us to honor their memory and carry on their memory and names going forward,” one of the organizers of the event said during the ceremony. “We can’t fully repay them. Not for their sacrifice. But we can by trying to honor them every day. Living for what they died. Freedom, equality, opportunity, and unlimited promise in the United States of America.”
Congressman Gerry Connolly spoke during the event Monday.
“When we talk about the ultimate sacrifice on Memorial Day, we remember brave men and women who gave their lives to defend the Constitution and the liberties contained therein,” said U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly. “It’s an abstract idea that unites us. Basic freedoms we believe are universal and worth fighting and dying for. At one point, one million Americans at least have given that ultimate sacrifice over the years for precisely that principle.”
Isabella Cosgrove, who is in the second grade, was among more than a dozen volunteers who read and recognized the names who died while serving their country.
“I was really nervous,” Cosgrove told 7News after she read the names in front of the crowd. “I don’t like talking to crowds.”
But that didn’t stop her.
“It means a lot because my mom is a veteran,” said Cosgrove. “I think it was a way to show my respect for all the people who died for us in America.”
Bryna Erickson got emotional as the names were read.
“There’s a reason we take a day as a country to have a moment at 3 p.m. to not go to work so that we do have time to reflect on the sacrifice of others and gifts that we’ve been given in that sacrifice,” said Erickson. “They did something so we don’t have to. And it’s our job to remember that, honor that and to be worthy of it.”