Chattanoogans pause to reflect on Memorial Day

Colors being presented at the Chattanooga National Cemetery’s annual Memorial Day ceremony.

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF)- On this Memorial Day, many across the Tennessee Valley took the time to remember in numerous ceremonies across the area.

One of those was at the Chattanooga National Cemetery.

The keynote speaker for this year’s ceremony was Rear Admiral Jeff Spivey of the U.S. Navy, who graduated from East Ridge High School.

He spent much of his speech honoring local heroes such as Captain Larry Taylor, Sgt. Sanford Roy, and Lance Corporal Skip Wells.

He said, “These soldiers lived the lives that generated the sacrifice, then there is the life they could have lived, and then there’s the other part, the lives that were enabled to live, the lives we live today…. So look around you, these rolling hills hold the remains of over 50,000 service members. Every stone tells a story. A love for country and freedom for which they fought.”

Captain Mickey McCamish, one of the lead organizers of this annual ceremony, says that this day has a different meaning given his decades of service in the Navy.

He said, “I was in Vietnam, and I remember some shipmates and classmates who passed away. I remember the impact that it had on the families and I just remember what the word sacrifice meant, and that I was fortunate that I did make it back home.”

He says he is grateful to thousands of Chattanoogans who showed up to help plant flags on every single last grave at the cemetery, the first time that has happened for Memorial Day.

He said, “The whole community came out to do that, but it’s the result of you all being out there and making the community aware that this needs to happen.”

They will need more volunteers to help retire those flags at 8 a.m. Saturday morning.