Capturing Memorial Day Events in Central Florida that ‘Honor and Pay Tribute to Fallen Heroes’

ORLANDO, Fla. – My goal this Memorial Day, as a veteran, was to attend various events and ceremonies associated with the holiday. I dedicated time outside of my usual work hours to participate in these activities.

While the federal holiday is honored on the last Monday in May, events in Central Florida spanned Friday through Monday.

According to the United States Census, more than 1 million men and women have died in military service since the Civil War.

I started this project at the city of Orlando’s Memorial Day Commemoration Ceremony on Friday, May 23, at Greenwood Cemetery.

Orlando

On Saturday, May 24th, I went to the Leesburg Memorial Day program at Veterans Memorial Park in Leesburg. During the event, I had the privilege of meeting George Wanberg, an 80-year-old Marine Corps. and Vietnam veteran. Wanberg shared his reasons for attending the event and paying tribute to his fellow service members who sacrificed their lives for their country.

Explaining the importance of honoring fallen heroes, Wanberg expressed, “We need to respect and honor those who fell. People have been dying for this country since its establishment in 1775, and it is crucial that we pay our respects. Otherwise, there will be a gap in generations, and it is essential for our youth to witness the significance of our actions today.”

Leesburg

On Sunday, May 25, I visited the Florida National Cemetery in Sumter County.

Nikki Balasch, event coordinator with the Flags for Florida’s Fallen of Florida National Cemetery, gathered with the 2,743 volunteers on the morning before Memorial Day to place flags every grave site – all 244,000 of them. It’s an impressive feat that is accomplished in just over an hour at the cemetery that covers over 500 acres.

Totes filled with flags were placed around the cemetery, and after Taps was played at 9 a.m., volunteers started their mission, placing flags at the front of each grave site.

But the tribute didn’t end there.

“Each name is said aloud and they are each thanked for their service, so that no here is ever forgotten,” Balasch said.

Like many volunteers, Balasch has a special connection to the cemetery – her father, Charles Bruce, who served in Vietnam while in the U.S. Army, is buried in section 626.

“He’s the reason why I do this,” an emotional Balasch said. “He’s my hero.”

Bushnell

After I left Bushnell, I traveled about an hour to Clermont to visit the Memorial Vietnam Traveling Wall at Waterfront Park. There, I met Brock and Toni Creekmore, who were visiting the wall to find the name of her uncle, Ronald Gaffney, who was killed in Vietnam in 1965.

“Very overwhelming,” Toni Creekmore told me. “I was so little when he died, seeing it, understand how my mother was.”

“We don’t think about how it affects families,” Brock Creekmore said. “Her mother lost a very, very close brother and she was never the same. My father lost his older brother on the beaches of Normandy, June 6, 1944, and you could see the effect in him.”

Clermont