Honoring those who have served our country and have passed away is why we celebrate Memorial Day. Today the Fort Smith National Ceremony paid tribute to those men and women with a small gathering.
No coronavirus or rain could have stopped the people of Fort Smith from honoring those who have served our country.
The ceremony heard from Mayor McGill, shared a prayer and they heard taps and a rifle salute. Following the CDC guidelines only ten people were allowed to participate in the ceremony itself. People were allowed to gather outside of the gates to watch.
Director of Fort Smith National Cemetery, Marshall Murphy says people were able to observe from family groups or socially distanced from others.
Wreaths were laid out for prisoner of war/missing in action, disabled, American Veterans and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
Fort Smith Mayor George McGill says the pandemic made the ceremony different than past years but it still had a strong impact on those who were there.
“We do it with the same spirit we do with the same heart we do with the same passion but we’re having to do it differently...normally we would have three or 400 people at an event like this but today they allowed only 10 active members in the ceremony I’m very proud of them,” said Fort Smith Mayor George McGill.
The National Ceremony is not performing communal services during the coronavirus pandemic to avoid the large crowds. It's also not performing military honors, but Murphy says those can be scheduled for a later date.
There are around 23,000 people buried at the Fort Smith National Cemetery. 17,000 of those being veterans and 6,000 are dependents or spouses.