<\/a>Commander Rear Adm. Nathan A. Moore gives a speech to a crowd gathered at Alaskan Memorial Park as the rain poured down for a service in observance of Memorial Day on Monday morning. (Clarise Larson \/ Juneau Empire)<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
The keynote speaker of the observance, Commander Rear Adm. Nathan A. Moore, expressed his gratitude to the crowd for coming out despite the less-than-ideal weather conditions.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“You can definitely tell this is a Juneau event because of the number of people that have shown up today and are willing to stand in the rain to honor our veterans and honor what Memorial Day is,” he said. “It’s certainly an act of patriotism.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
<\/a>Cadet Staff Sgt. Casey Knapp (left) Cadet 1st Lt. Elijah Goins (left center) Cadet Master Sgt. Gunner Lotz (right center) and Cadet Senior Airman Wesson Lotz (right) lead the color guard exit at Alaskan Memorial Park for a service in observance of Memorial Day on Monday morning. (Clarise Larson \/ Juneau Empire)<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
Jensen said it’s important to honor those who have died in the service, and gave the “ultimate sacrifice” for the freedom of Americans today and in the future. He said honoring those who gave the “ultimate sacrifice” must be continued to set an example for future generations and he encouraged people to spread their patriotism to others.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
He thanked the group for commemorating the day.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“From the bottom of my heart I want to thank you all for coming — you are what really makes the nation strong,” he said, “Those of us in uniform recognize that what we do doesn’t matter if we don’t have those back to take care of families and support us.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
<\/a>About 60 veterans, their families and other supporters gather at Evergreen Cemetery for a Memorial Day observance Monday. (Mark Sabbatini \/ Juneau Empire)<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
At the same time about 60 veterans, family members and other supporters gathered downtown at Evergreen Cemetery for a commemoration by Veterans of Foreign Wars Taku Post 5559. Small flags prominent there were placed at the graves of veterans by an anonymous family that performs the service every year.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
For the opening invocation Kirk Thorsteinson, the VFW post’s chaplain, began by reading the war poem “In Flanders Fields” by Canadian physician Lt. Col. John McCrae.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
<\/a>Capt. Darwin Jensen, commander of U.S. Coast Guard Sector Juneau, gives a speech to veterans and others gathered for a Memorial Day observance at Evergreen Cemetery on Monday. (Mark Sabbatini \/ Juneau Empire)<\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
“Please continue to raise up a generation of warriors who will honor you as teacher and rightful judge, and who will sacrificially catch and carry the torch high as long as Americans foes choose to quarrel,” Thorsteinson continued. “A generation such as Lt. Col. John McCrae’s, who himself said ‘I am really rather afraid, but more afraid to stay at home with my conscience.’”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
The poem was also referenced by Capt. Darwin Jensen, commander of U.S. Coast Guard Sector Juneau, during a speech to those gathered as he observed it “helps to kind of give a good idea of what that sacrifice means.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t
“The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here,” Jensen said. “It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.”<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t