Acworth honors fallen at Memorial Day ceremony

May 31—ACWORTH — In front of the city's veterans memorial, Patriots Point, fallen soldiers were honored with words of gratitude and prayer during a Memorial Day observance Saturday.

With a backdrop of Lake Acworth, speakers at the event included Acworth Mayor Tommy Allegood, state Rep. Ed Setzler, a U.S. Army veteran, and Lt. Col. Ali Palmer, who served in the Army from 1997 to 2006. Palmer had deployments to Kosovo, Macedonia and Iraq and earned a Bronze Star for his actions in combat. During his Army career, Palmer was an engineer, operations officer, company commander and general's aide.

During his talk, Palmer recounted stories of heroism from his days in the service and emphasized the importance of making sure fallen soldiers' names continue to live on.

"On a day when barbecues and picnics and sports are typical to enjoy ... you are choosing instead now to uphold the mantle that America has carried for generations, honoring our fallen," Palmer said. "We labor, we sacrifice, and we espouse these ideals that make our country so wonderful, like integrity, service, loyalty, and that sacred thing called freedom."

Palmer recited statistics on the number of U.S. soldiers who died in war.

"We are responsible and obligated to remember them and to do so with humility, and to do so with respect," Palmer said. "We often think sadly, and sometimes regrettably when we consider the ultimate sacrifice that our brothers and sisters gave, that war is an unfortunate necessity in our world."

Palmer spoke with pride about his service.

"It is a privilege to serve. This is a magnificent country. So let us not only be sad and negative when we think back on our fallen comrades, let's remember them with fondness and admiration and the privilege they had to serve their country.

In a crowd that featured a number of veterans, the message from Palmer was well received, as he discussed the military's presence in Georgia. Some in the crowd were uniquely affected, having lost family members who served.

Toward the end of his talk, Palmer advised attendees to support the military, especially during a time of foreign conflict.

"As (militant Islamist group) ISIS and those who would bring adversarial conflict onto our shores, in Iraq, Syria and other places still grow to threatening levels," Palmer said, "it is now a time to double and triple down on our vigilance and our focus and our support."

Mayor Allegood reiterated the city's appreciation for those who served.

"We love our veterans. We honor our veterans. We pray for our veterans because our freedom is something that each one of us gets to enjoy today," Allegood said.

The ceremony concluded with a bagpipe rendition of Amazing Grace as city leaders and attendees looked toward the water, remembering those who lost their lives.