This year’s annual ceremony honored Pvt. Frank James, who died in a train collision in France in 1918 during World War I. He was a native of Hancock County and is now one of 318 names inscribed on the Kentucky National Guard Memorial.
Gold Star families, who have lost loved ones in service to the country, were also recognized at the event.
Coleman and Kentucky National Guard Maj. Gen. Hal Lamberton were the speakers at the service.
“Memorial Day is not just a day that we get off of work,” Coleman said. “It is sacred, as it is a day that we pause to reflect on the true and measurable cost of our freedom. This year, as the nation celebrates 250 years of American independence, we are reminded that Kentucky's citizen soldiers have been the ones preserving that independence from our earliest days.”
She described the memorial as the "physical embodiment of Kentucky's enduring promise” to remember the state’s fallen soldiers.
Coleman shared that this was her first year celebrating Memorial Day as a military mom since her oldest daughter joined the Air Force Nursing Corps.
“I'm a little nervous, because that's what moms do, but I'm very proud of the fact that she's willing to sacrifice and serve,” Coleman said. “These Gold Star families have always been families that we want to lift up, but certainly being in this position makes it a little bit more personal maybe than it was before.”
Lamberton said people join the military for a variety of reasons, but these days, it’s mostly from a sense of patriotism. He shared the story of a friend of his that died in Afghanistan while serving and talked about the family he left behind.
“To each one of these folks who currently serve, I would offer that we're the beneficiaries of their service,” Lamberton said. “We're the beneficiaries of their sacrifice, we're the beneficiaries of their efforts and their service, not just to the National Guard, not just to the commonwealth, but the entire country.”
He said people need the military even if they don’t interact with service members directly or indirectly. The National Guard is the military branch visible at the local level, but it still has a role abroad.
“Typically we have the reputation for being engaged with weather-related incidents – floods, tornadoes – but we've got Guardsmen from Kentucky who are over in the Middle East right now,” Lamberton said. “We've got other Guardsmen from Kentucky who are getting ready to go to the Middle East. We've got Guardsmen from Kentucky who are over in the European theater right now, and they're not there because of a voluntary dynamic where they just want to be there, they're there for an operational need.”
Lamberton said he understood that for many people, Memorial Day is a “cookout weekend” and while people should still have their picnics, they should also pause to remember why the day exists.
