Elected officials joined military members and their families in New Castle Thursday for a Memorial Day Commemoration.
The ceremony at the Blue Star Memorial honors fallen service members who have died while serving in the U.S. Armed Forces.
“We all have stories of family members and friends who made that ultimate sacrifice," says Gov. John Carney. "And today we need to tell those stories, and retell those stories, as we gather here, not just on Memorial Day, but every day.”
Carney says he also celebrates the living on Memorial Day – current service members and veterans.
Sen. Tom Carper says the country has been through worse than the worldwide conflict happening now.
“And if you go back far enough, we had a Civil War, brothers against brothers, families against families, 600,000 men killed, it was worse, a whole lot worse," Carper says. "Not one, but two World Wars, a Great Depression, we’ve been through all that and came through it as the mightiest nation on Earth.”
Keynote speaker Chief Warrant Officer Five Phyllis Wilson emphasized the service of women in the military. Wilson is President of the Women in Military Service for America Memorial Foundation.
Keynote speaker Chief Warrant Officer Five Phyllis Wilson emphasized the service of women in the military. Wilson is President of the Women in Military Service for America Memorial Foundation.
“More recently, women have been afforded the opportunity to join men on the battlefields in numbers never seen in our history," Wilson says. "This of course means that women will also die in the line of duty at historical levels.”
Wilson encouraged current and former female military and their families to add their personal stories to the Military Women’s Memorial database.
“We do have more than 314,000 stories, but there are over three million women that have served this country," Wilson says. "That means we have 10 percent of the stories."
