Monday’s hour-long ceremony brought them closer to their loved ones lost who proudly served their country.
“People celebrate (with) barbecues, swimming pools, and we do that too, but we also come out here and remember the ones that are fallen for this country,” said Adel Ramirez, the brother of Purple Heart recipient Eric Ramirez.
In February 2004, Eric was killed in an enemy ambush while serving as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
He was deployed with the National Guard and was just six weeks from when he was scheduled to return from his tour to be with his wife and two children.
His son Chase was just 2 months old when his father was killed overseas.
“I’m just happy I can carry on his legacy,” Chase said.
Monday’s ceremony was dedicated to Eric’s father, Felix Ramirez. In the years since Eric passed, he’s served as a chaplain and contributed to Memorial Day ceremonies at the cemetery.
Visitors walk through the rolling hills of headstones marking the final resting place of service men and women in Arlington National Cemetery.
Raindrops collect on the stem of a rose placed on the top of the headstone marking a fallen service member at Arlington National Cemetery.
Krista Meinert sits with her son, US Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Jacob Meinert who was killed in Afghanistan in 2010, at Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day.
A man kneels at the resting place of a fallen loved one in Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day.
Two women visit a fallen loved one at Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day.
Brad Fromm talks to his son, Tyler, at the final resting place of a fallen loved one in Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day.
Young boys place roses at the final resting place of fallen service members in Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day.
A woman holds a sign at the 104th annual Memorial Day parade on Monday in the Staten Island borough of New York City.
US sailors salute during the 156th Brooklyn's Memorial Day Parade in the Brooklyn borough of New York City on Monday.
Members of the Veteran Service Organization fire a 21-gun salute during the 156th Brooklyn's Memorial Day Parade in New York City on Monday.
David Loesch, a 101st Airborne Veteran of the Vietnam War, searches for the names of soldiers from his unit on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial during Memorial Day.
Parade grand marshal, U.S. Marines Sgt. Michael Sulsona, greets a Navy veteran before the start of the 104th annual Memorial Day parade on Monday in the Staten Island borough of New York City. Sulsona is a disabled combat Vietnam veteran who was wounded in action on January 15, 1971. He received the Purple Heart and Bronze Star.
Rainwater soaks the names engraved on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on Memorial Day.
A directory of the names found on the wall at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is seen under rain-covered glass during Memorial Day.
US President Joe Biden speaks during a Memorial Day address at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, US, on Monday.
A man wearing a flag-adorned sweater, stops to take a picture on Memorial Day at the Los Angeles National Cemetery.
The Empire State Building standing between the towers of Hudson Yards marks Memorial Day weekend by lighting in red, white and blue in New York City.
Virginia Morrow, from Long Beach, California, visits the remains of her husband of 48 years and retired Marine, Albert, on Memorial Day.
Mounted Buffalo Soldiers delivered the presentation of colors before the start of a Memorial Day ceremony at the Los Angeles National Cemetery.
A young girl tries to fit her shirt over the top of a headstone on Memorial Day at the Los Angeles National Cemetery.
Jack Knight, 85, who served four years in the Army, walks through Los Angeles National Cemetery on Memorial Day.
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