Hundreds gathered at Veterans Park to honor those who gave the ultimate sacrifice and are remembered on Memorial Day.

The event, sponsored by Disabled American Veterans Auxiliary Unit #48 & Chapter 48, went from 11 a.m. to noon. Music was performed by the quartet, Men ‘n a Chord, and respect was paid to the men and women who gave their lives for their country. Washington High School’s Junior ROTC as well as veterans organizations were out in uniform throughout the park.

Rev. Linwood Lewis remembered one recent hero, Spc. Joel Taylor, who was killed in action in Iraq while serving in the U.S. Army as a tanker.

“I remember the funeral procession,” he said. “From the time we left the church, until the time we reached the cemetery, there were people almost shoulder to shoulder and they were waving American flags.

“A little boy was holding a rifle with a bayonet on the end and a sign that said ‘Thank You.’ And that reminded me once again why we live in the greatest country on Earth.”

It’s stories and moments like these that people cherish as they commemorate those lost in battle.

Frank Huffman, N.C. State chaplain and Navy veteran, remembered fallen fellow servicemen and a great many others.

“There are so many things we could say on Veterans Day and so little time really to say those things,” Huffman said. “I’ve seen and heard the grand eloquent people on the radio and listened to them as I’ve traveled, saying great and glorious things concerning our veterans of those who’ve passed on and those who still serve.

“I don’t think there’s a military person that does not suffer from some form of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Just by nature of going through boot camp, the things you go through and the things you learn change you completely.”

He added that God did not make humans to be a soldiers. He made people to love one another.

“So there’s no such thing as a veteran who does not have some problems related to their service time if they served no less than boot camp.”

As a counselor and psychologist, Huffman has worked with countless veterans and listened to stories about their time in the military.

Huffman remembered Lt. Robert Hartley, a former member of the Blue Angels who served with Huffman at his first duty station in Jacksonville, Fla.

“They said there was no better pilot than Lt. Hartley,” Huffman recounted. “One day on a training mission on his way back to base, Lt. Hartley’s plan stopped. The engine blew out and it wouldn’t flame back on. He was over Jacksonville, Fla., and he could’ve bailed and he would’ve lived. But he fought that plane all the way into Jacksonville Harbor.

“That’s the kind of people that we’ve had serve our country … And all of these movies in Hollywood don’t even begin to tell the story.”

Melba Sayers, Disabled American Veterans Auxiliary commander, said a prayer for the prisoners of war and those missing in action.

“If it were our sons, brothers, husbands, sisters and daughters, let us never forget them,” she said. “They remind us of the freedom we enjoy every day. Let us never forget.”