Veterans celebrate Memorial Day in Rolla amid COVID-19

May 26--South Central Regional Veterans Group Chairman Glenn Gibson says the veterans' group decided to hold their board meeting at Veterans Memorial Park in Rolla and reminded everyone to maintain social distancing.

He said, due to the current situation, city officials, knowing the large crowd that usually attends the ceremony, determined it was best to cancel the 2020 Memorial Day ceremony.

Gibson, in a live stream of the ceremony on Facebook, said he was saddened by the lack of attention Armed Forces Day on May 16 received, just as he was saddened when the annual Memorial Day ceremony in Rolla was canceled.

Gibson said, "This is the one day a year that we come together and officially pay tribute to all those men and women who paid the ultimate price while serving their country. Today is a solemn day, a reverent day, a day to remember all those brave men and women. A day for the rest of us to be humbled by their actions. A day to remember."

He added, "So on this day let us pay our respects to those that have never left the battlefield. Let us honor all of those who have sacrificed for the rest of us. Remember the fallen, remember them all, not just someone you may know, or served with, but remember them all. For if we remember them and remember their sacrifice, then they live on in the spirit of this country, they live on in the colors of our flag, remember them. And in remembering them, let us help to resolve not to let their sacrifice be in vain."

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