On his trips to Washington, D.C., erstwhile Green Beret Fred Horne could ne'er bring himself to get up adjacent to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
Confronting the etched names of men helium served with required a courageousness that the 20-year subject seasoned said helium conscionable couldn’t muster.
“I retrieve those faces today,” Horne said. “They died for a state that truly didn’t admit them.”
Horne stood shoulder-to-shoulder with chap erstwhile Green Berets and much than a 100 others successful Boulder City connected Sunday to wage their respect to those who person died serving successful the military.
The gathering successful the Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery was the 32nd yearly Memorial Day ceremonial organized by the Las Vegas Chapter 51 of the Special Forces Association. The section besides unveiled a caller plaque displayed connected the cemetery’s chapel that honors peculiar forces members.
“As veterans, it is incumbent upon america to instill successful each Americans wherefore this time is celebrated and stress that it is simply a clip to amusement reverence for the quality losses successful war,” section president Harold Wheeler said during the ceremony. “Let america retrieve state is not free. It is paid for successful the lives of the brave.”
Former Green Beret Harold Wheeler, president of Las Vegas Chapter 51 of the Special Forces Association, speaks astir the past of Taps during the yearly Special Forces Memorial Day ceremonial connected Sunday, May 24, 2026, astatine the Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery successful Boulder City. (Liv Paggiarino/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
Attendees solemnly sat and stood arsenic Wheeler talked astir the sacrifices made by subject members and their families. He spoke feet distant from a statue commemorating the peculiar forces. Near that statue was a battlefield transverse constructed with a knife, combat boots and a firearm topped with a greenish beret.
Lonny Holmes, a erstwhile Green Beret who served successful the Vietnam War, said Memorial Day gives him a clip to bespeak connected his clip arsenic a medic successful Vietnam and Thailand.
“I retrieve each the guys I served with, some overseas and successful the United States,” Holmes said. “Most of them are gone now, immoderate of them are inactive successful Vietnam… but each those memories are fantastic.”
The yearly ceremonial besides helps support him connected with different veterans, Holmes said. He called Sunday’s gathering 1 of the champion the section has ever had.
After the ceremony, Horne looked done his tinted sunglasses retired astatine the cemetery’s graveyard, awash with fluttering American flags. He pointed to the tombstones among the oversea of red, achromatic and bluish and said “those are the ones that are the heroes.”
Contact Spencer Levering astatine slevering@reviewjournal.com oregon 702-383-0253.
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