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Liberty honors Memorial Day

Matt Shortall - Co-editor
Posted 5/28/20

Liberty honors Memorial Day

Story and photos

by Matt Shortall

LIBERTY — The annual Memorial Day service at the Sullivan County Veterans Cemetery in Liberty may have been different …

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Liberty honors Memorial Day

Posted

Liberty honors Memorial Day

Story and photos

by Matt Shortall

LIBERTY — The annual Memorial Day service at the Sullivan County Veterans Cemetery in Liberty may have been different than in past years, but the sentiment was the same.

While the COVID-19 Pandemic has kept people apart, this Memorial Day brought them together, albeit virtually, in shared reverence for those who died in service to their country.

Little more than a dozen people were there in person, walking through the rows of American flags planted on grave sites to the top of the cemetery where the ceremony is held each year.

Keeping their distance from each other and wearing masks when not speaking at the podium, they were there to keep good on a promise that those buried there would never be forgotten.

“We honor today those who gave their lives, the families they left behind, and those who have lived their lives never betraying their oath,” said John Crotty, Sullivan County Veterans Service Agency Director. “We will never forget.”

Other speakers included Pastor Walter Haff of Monticello United Methodist Church, Veterans Service Officer Stephen Walsh, State Senator Jen Metzger and Deputy County Manager John Liddle.

“On Veterans Day we celebrate the living. On Memorial Day, we celebrate people who gave the ultimate sacrifice - their lives - for their country,” said Walsh.

Senator Metzger said, “Today serves as a reminder that the freedoms we enjoy in this country are precisely because of the great sacrifices of our fallen heroes. We are truly united as Americans in our gratitude to them and their families.”

Deputy County Manager and veteran John Liddle talked about the reason for the holiday, one which is less celebratory and more reflective.

“After all we've been through over the past few months, it is easy to make even a beautiful day like this seem necessarily somber,” Liddle said. “We have all lost a cruelly large share of our aging veterans because of this virus' penchant for stealing the very breath from its occasionally fragile and often elderly victims.”

Thousands of people who could not be there in person watched a live video feed shared on official Sullivan County Government social media pages.

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