Click here for pictures from the 2011 Memorial Day ceremony.

Click here for the article covering the 2011 Memorial Day ceremony in the Leesburg Today.

Sterling Park Honors Fallen On Memorial Day

Posted on May 30, 2011 by Kara Clark

For the 35th straight year, Sterling Park honored America's fallen soldiers Monday during the annual Memorial Day observance.

American Legion Post 150 hosted the event, held at the Sterling Veterans Memorial located at the corner of Holly Avenue and Sterling Boulevard.

Air Force Lt. Col Bradford N. Norris served as the keynote speaker for the ceremony, which attracted dozens of local residents and veterans who braved the high heat to remember those who paid the ultimate sacrifice defending America's freedom.

Norris said Memorial Day was an important day to "maintain perspective" as many regard the holiday as the "beginning or end of a three-day weekend" and not for the true reason Memorial Day was established. The day is not meant to honor those present for today's ceremony, but rather the more than 1 million Americans who have died in combat fighting America's wars since the country was established.

Norris noted that just one day after beginning his service in the Air Force, after his graduation from the Air Force Academy and 60-day leave following graduation ceremonies, the country entered into the Gulf War and has been at war in one conflict or another ever since.

Although Norris said he had never personally been in combat, he served one tour each in Iraq and Afghanistan and spent about two-and-a-half years geographically apart from his family. Norris recalled his time in Iraq and how he would hear the MedeVac helicopters flying over base. In Afghanistan, he could see the ambulances shuttling injured soldiers to the hospital or, even worse, emergency personnel turning in to the Casualty Services department at the Air Force base for fallen soldiers. Norris said Memorial Day was a day to honor those killed fighting for the freedoms Americans enjoy today, as well as those families who bear the emotional and psychological burdens of being left behind by a loved one.

The Sterling United Methodist church choir provided the musical backdrop for the emotional ceremony, with audience members joining in for rousing renditions of the National Anthem, Battle Hymn of the Republic and America the Beautiful. Boy Scout Troop 956, based out of Sterling, assisted the American Legion with the Pledge of Allegiance, Presentation of the Wreath and Raising the Colors. American Legion Post 150 and the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9478 conducted the ceremonial rifle salute, while The Rev. Roland Smith, of Herndon's Salem Baptist Church, led the invocation and benediction. American Legion Post 150 Commander Ed Linek was master of ceremonies.

© Copyright 2011, Leesburg Today , Leesburg, VA