'A Day of Remembrance': Event honors veterans for Memorial Day

May 28—Community members gathered at Owensboro Memorial Gardens on Saturday to pay respects to service members during the 25th annual "A Day of Remembrance" service in honor of Memorial Day, hosted by Glenn Family Services.

Glenn Taylor, Sr., president of Glenn Funeral Home and Crematory, said the event serves as a reminder of the sacrifices made for the country.

"When I talk about sacrifices, certainly I'm discussing those who gave their lives, but also those who had their lives interrupted and suffered through wartime," he said. "They're deserving of recognition."

Memorial Day and honoring veterans is something that is close to Taylor.

"My grandfather on one side fought in the trenches of France in World War I, and my grandfather on the other side was in the United States Navy," he said. "My father fought in World War II, and I served as an armored officer in the Kentucky National Guard."

Taylor said it's important to remember what people have done to give Americans the rights given.

"During this time, I think it's critically important for us to remember that we can disagree and that doesn't make us enemies," he said. "It means we just have a difference of opinion, and we need to respect each other's opinions. That's what these people fought for."

Event speaker Flem Gordon, of Gordon Goetz Johnson Caldwell law firm, said Memorial Day is a time that the nation pauses to honor the service members who gave their lives in service to the country.

"Rightfully it has evolved into a day that we also recognize our veterans and other first responders in our communities," he said. "Nothing we say here today can magnify the sacrifice that those service members have rendered for us."

Gordon said community members can keep service members in their hearts and through the lives they live.

"What kind of nation we are and will become is ours to determine by our actions and choice," he said. "Let us shape the future in the image of those (service members)."

Jesse Mountjoy, of Sullivan Mountjoy law firm, spoke about his father, Jesse T. Mountjoy, who died in combat, during the event.

"I am a son fortunate in my knowledge, however late, of the last days of my father's life," he said.

Mountjoy said his father was a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Air Corps at the age of 28 and went out on his last mission on July 31, 1944.

"At approximately 1 p.m., he lifts off and is airborne with seven other planes forming the two elements," he said. "His individual flight record will always show one more takeoff than landing."

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