Marion Memorial Day Service remembers, vows to carry on
Letters From Home stars, Erinn Dearth and Dan Beckmann, performed patriotic music during Monday's ceremony at the VFW post.
During the ceremony, three wreaths were placed – one for Gold Star families, one for the Daughters of the American Revolution, and another for the Town of Marion.
Chris Dutton, a retired U.S. Air Force officer, served as Monday's keynote speaker.
Letters From Home encouraged audience members to sing along during a rendition of Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the USA".
Captain Isaac Davis’s last words to his wife, Hannah, were “take care of the children.” She became a single parent when Davis was killed on April 19, 1775. He was the first colonial officer to die in the American Revolution.
Gregory Pruitt described his wife, Tech. Sgt. Ashley Pruitt, as radiant. He became the sole parent to their 3-year-old daughter this March when Ashley was one of six U.S. service personnel killed in a plane crash in Iraq.
Monday, Lt. Col. (ret.) Chris Dutton remembered Davis and Pruitt and the more than 1.3 million Americans who have sacrificed their lives for this country during war, paying the “cost for freedom.”
As this country approaches its 250th birthday in July, he also noted 44 Revolutionary War soldiers who were recently reinterred after their bodies were found during a construction project. The soldiers were largely in their teens and early 20s.
Dutton, a Wythe County resident, served as the keynote speaker at Marion VFW Post 4667’s Memorial Day ceremony.
He also remembered the families and all those impacted by sacrificed lives.
While pausing to never forget, Dutton said, “we carry on… to do otherwise is a disservice.”
Those lost in war entrust those who survive with all that is left behind, from their families to this country’s freedoms, he contended.
During the ceremony, three wreaths were placed – one for Gold Star families (immediate family members of a U.S. service member killed in the line of duty), one for the Daughters of the American Revolution, and another for the Town of Marion.
The musical duo Letters From Home stars, Erinn Dearth and Dan Beckmann, performed patriotic songs. The entertainers, who come annually to Marion for Memorial Day weekend, said that they consider the community their second home.
After the morning’s parade and the ceremony, the Civitan Club prepared a community cookout.
Rep. Morgan Griffith attended the ceremony.
