NEW JERSEY (KYW Newsradio) — Veterans, dignitaries and families of the fallen gathered Monday in Cherry Hill to remember those who gave their lives for the freedoms Americans enjoy.
“Memorial Day is not a day of celebration and cheer, but one of gratitude and reflection,” said Cherry Hill Mayor David Fleisher as he opened the somber ceremony outside Cherry Hill’s municipal building.
For New Jersey Assemblywoman and Gold Star Mother Melinda Kane, every day is Memorial Day since her son Jeremy was killed in Afghanistan 15 years ago. She said she doesn’t need a holiday to be reminded of her son’s sacrifice, but the nation does.
“There’s nothing happy. It’s a solemn day of remembrance for those that have died serving our country,” Kane told KYW Newsradio. “Every time someone says ‘Happy Memorial Day,’ it’s a painful reminder of what this day is not.”
Kane urged those in attendance at Cherry Hill’s municipal building to honor the legacy of those who died serving their country by upholding the values they fought to protect.
“It’s something that her son felt strongly about,” said retired Brigadier General John DiNapoli, the event’s keynote speaker. “Martin Luther King told us, ‘If you haven’t figured out something to die for, then maybe it’s not worth living.’”
“A lot of times, we talk about heroes. We have sports heroes and political heroes. But really, the heroes are the veterans, the police officers, the firefighters that have made the ultimate sacrifice,” said DiNapoli, who served as a Brigadier General in the New Jersey Army National Guard.
“The people that we’re here to recognize, they've done something that's above and beyond anything that any of us have done that have survived. But it always humbles me to recognize that thankfully we have these types of folks — men and women that are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice so that we can keep enjoying our freedoms.”