MOUNT GILEAD — A dozen people gathered at Bryn Zion Cemetery to listen to a brief remembrance for veterans by Richard ‘Ric’ Lyle and to hear taps played.
“Today is Memorial Day 2020 and even though we are fighting a different type of battle,” Lyle said, referring to the coronavirus, “a grateful nation takes pause to reflect on the cost of defending freedom.”
Lyle went on to thank God for the sacrifice of brave men and women and for the freedoms they fought and died to preserve.
Quoting from John 15:13, Lyle read: “Greater love has no one than this — to lay down his life for one’s friends.”
“We will always remember and we will never forget those who fought and died for this country,” Lyle said and added that he hopes the tradition of Memorial Day is kept alive by future generations.
Lyle noted that the Color Guard had visited all the cemeteries in the county on Saturday to salute veterans. There was also a brief service at the veterans monument by the courthouse in Mount Gilead on Memorial Day.
The service closed with the haunting notes of “Taps” played at a distance across the cemetery by Liam Shotwell, a Mount Gilead High School graduate and OSU student.
