‘The people that gave it all’: Memorial Day honors those lost across the CSRA

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - On this Memorial Day, service across the CSRA were ed for their ultimate sacrifice.

In a military community such as our own, Memorial Day is so much more than a long weekend. It’s a time to thank our veterans and honor the fallen.

For many of us, those are our mothers and fathers, siblings, cousins, grandparents and friends. It’s people we knew and loved, and are now left to carry on without them.

For decades, local veterans and active military have teamed up to hold a ceremony honoring these individuals.

On Monday, the Military Order of the World Wars hosted its 30th annual ceremony in downtown Augusta.

During the event, leaders and neighbors ed those who gave their lives.

After the ceremony, a few veterans spoke on how hard it was to come back here to Augusta without some of their friends in tow.

For some, it’s a reminder of just how much our freedom costs.

For Vietnam veteran Joe Glover, Memorial Day is when he finds himself missing three of his friends the most.

“But to God be the glory, I’m still standing and I’m here for my brothers and sisters that didn’t make it back,” said Glover. “It’s not about me, it’s about them. I just want to pay tribute to them, and may they all rest in heavenly peace.”

Glover made it back to the U.S. years later after he was honorably discharged with a partial disability.

As for his friends, well, they ended up on the All Wars Memorial in downtown Augusta. Every year, Joe comes to pay his respects, but in a different way.

“I usually try to get here after everyone leaves and come down and give them my little ‘Hello, how are you guys’ to Eugene Callahan, Cecil Murray, William Penn, all these guys are classmates from Martha Schofield High School in Aiken,” said Glover.

Glover says there’s a reason he purposefully didn’t come in time for the three-volley salute and taps.

“It’s not about being in the crowd and being here with all the publicity,” said Glover. “It’s giving it to the people that gave it all. And I come down, low profile it, and thank God for them, for their sacrifice, and I ask God to please help.”

For many like Glover, Memorial Day isn’t about the ceremony; it’s the connection and respect, and he says sometimes the best form of respect is paid in silence.

In Columbia County, the Veterans of Foreign Wars hosted a Memorial Day remembrance ceremony.

“Look around at what we have, you know, we wouldn’t have any of this if it hadn’t been for the sacrifice of those who went before and gave their lives in order for us to stay free,” said Pat McMenamin, U.S. Coast Guard auxiliary.

ing those who gave everything.

“When I served in Iraq, I did lose two soldiers on a mission that I sent them out on, and so it’s very personal to me when you’re trying to the fallen and so forth,” said Bob Willis, veteran. “Every nine Mondays is when I the day they were killed by a vehicle suicide bomber on the mission that I deployed them on. So, It’s it’s very difficult, it’s something that people don’t think much about, but to be responsible for the lives of others is an extra burden.”

So it’s important for people to know why, especially younger generations.

“We can’t erase history, and we shouldn’t,” said McMenamin. “People need to know what our history was and the people who gave so that they’re here to be able to do what they can do today.”

Regardless of whether you have a connection to someone who made the ultimate sacrifice.

Making sure we always what they did for us.

“When you hear Amazing Grace and even when you hear our national anthem, when you connect that to maybe a person, when you connect that to our country, it just makes you well up because you’re proud to be an American,” said Cynthia Stein, a veteran. “You’re proud to have served with an American soldier, and you’re proud to have a family that continues to the military message.”

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