After serving in the Army’s 101st Airborne Division, Staff Sgt. Fred Hart died of health complications in 2008.
Sisters Faye Bush and Sue Hart then buried their father in the Forest Meadows Military Garden of Honor, where about 100 veterans and family members gathered Monday.
Bush said her father earned a World War II Victory Medal and the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal before he returned on a ship called the Queen Mary.
“When (the cemetery) started the military part, he wanted to be in that part because he was very proud of his service,” Hart said.
Master of ceremonies Bob Gasche, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who fought at Iwo Jima, said he started speaking at the event about seven years ago.
In between several ceremonial traditions, Gasche honored the veterans who are now buried at the cemetery.
“It’s such a privilege to recognize that and to let people know we owe them everything,” he said, “because they gave us everything.”
Vickie Van Buren, the commander of the American Legion Post 16, said she was satisfied with the turnout.
“Every year, it gets a little bigger, and it proves to me that people don’t see this as a day to go to the beach and picnic,” said Van Buren, a chair on the County Veterans Advisory Board. “They see it as what it’s supposed to be: to honor our fallen.”
