On Memorial Day 2013, there will be three opportunities for area residents to remember the men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces.

At 9 a.m. Monday, VFW Post 7055 in Brundidge will conduct a short ceremony and place a memorial wreath at the Veterans Memorial on the grounds of the Tupper Lightfoot Memorial Library in Brundidge.

Memorial Day services will be held in at 11 a.m. Monday in Troy and Elamville.

Pike County American Legion Post 70 and its Auxiliary will host the Memorial Day service at Bicentennial Park in Troy.

Bob McLendon, Post 70 commander, will be the featured speaker and will also call the names of all Pike County military personnel who lost their lives in combat from World War I through Iraqi Freedom.

“Veterans Day on November 11 honors all veterans but Memorial Day is a more solemn occasion because it honors those who gave their lives in service to their country,” McLendon said. “The names of those from Pike County who lost their lives during combat will be called. There were many others who died during service to their country – from training accidents, diseases and other causes – but that would be too names many to read.”

American Legion Post 70 Auxiliary will join in the laying of the memorial wreath at the Veterans Memorial. Special recognition will be given to Gold Star Mothers, who lost a son or daughter in service to their country.

Special music will be presented by Michael O’Hara and David Kirby.

The Elamville Memorial Day service will be held at the Elam Cemetery Veterans Monument and hosted by VFW Post 7055. A Korean prisoner of war will be the honored, featured speaker. A covered dish lunch will follow in the Elam Baptist Church Fellowship Hall.

Freddie Turner, VFW Post 7055 quartermaster, encouraged all citizens to attend a Memorial Day service as a way of honoring the men and women who gave their all in service to their country.

“The remembrance of the service of men and women who have paid the supreme sacrifice while serving this great nation is very important,” Turner said. “No person can give a greater gift than their lives to save someone else. So many have lost their lives while fighting for the freedoms of not only Americans, but also many from other nations. Millions have served and many thousands have died. Almost 150,000 are still missing.”

Turner said that, for the ones who have served, Memorial Day is a day of healing and reflection.

“It is, especially, a day for us to honor those who are under the graces of God,” he said. “I’m so thankful to be among the retired military. I still have a strong faith in America. I still have faith in our flag. I think it is second only to the Holy Bible as a symbol of hope and freedom for mankind.

“When we forget the ones who have suffered and died for our freedom, we are a lost nation. I pray to God that never happens.”