Special to Independent Newsmedia
Residents are invited to a Memorial Day ceremony honoring veterans in Phoenix.
The “Home of the Brave” event starts at 8 a.m. on Monday May 27 at the VA National Memorial Cemetery of Arizona, 23029 N. Cave Creek Road, to pay respectful tributes to those who have made the ultimate sacrifice.
U.S. Army (Ret.) Sergeant First Class and Gold Star Mom Diana Pike, who lost her son Christian in Afghanistan during the Global War on Terror, will deliver the keynote speech.
There will also be performances by the 108th Army National Guard Band and Arizona State Historian Marshall Trimble, plus a flyover by Kurt Gearhart and the Phoenix Stearman Group.
The ceremony will include military honors, including a rifle volley and the playing of the “Taps” bugle call, which is played at military installations worldwide at the end of each day and is also played at funerals to represent the end of a servicemember's life.
U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Jim Symonds, Judge Rick Romley, U.S. Marine Corps and Vietnam War veteran, and Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs will appear.
More than 95,000 servicemembers, veterans, and family members are interred at the National Memorial Cemetery of Arizona, which can hold eligible members until 2030.
Since 2011, Honoring America's Veterans, a nonprofit, has hosted honor and recognition events, including the Phoenix Veterans Day Parade, the Honoring Our Heroes Veterans Grand Marshals competition, a high school essay program, a Pearl Harbor commemoration ceremony, and a veterans forum.
Visit honoringamericasveterans.org.