'I do not forget': Hundreds gather to honor fallen service members on Memorial Day
LANTANA — During the Iranian hostage crisis, Bob Marioni helped to guide the flights that went to rescue Americans. He spent six months preparing by flying aircraft that collected information on Iran through pictures and videos.
The April 1980 mission failed, however, and eight service members died.
The Boca Raton man's career in the military began years before that. At 18 years old, he served in Navy on an aircraft carrier during the Vietnam War. Although he wasn’t in combat, he supported pilots and aircraft until his discharge at 24.
For Marioni, Memorial Day hits home. Now 67, he said he has friends who died during wars and celebrating them each year keeps their memory alive.
“It’s not about the picnics to me," he said Monday at Palm Beach Memorial Park in Lantana. "It’s about not forgetting those who have given their lives in battle for our country and making sure they get the respect and honor they deserve."
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Memorial Day ceremonies draw out hundreds to honor, remember
Marioni was one of dozens of veterans who attended “A Day To Remember,” the annual Memorial Day service conducted by Forgotten Soldiers Outreach, a Lake Worth Beach-based nonprofit that sends care packages each month to U.S. soldiers deployed abroad.
Flowers covered the graves at the cemetery off Seacrest Boulevard, and a color guard presented the American flag during the ceremony amid patriotic music and veterans connecting with one another.
Jim Sackett, the longtime WPTV NewsChannel 5 anchor, was the master of ceremonies. He invited each group of veterans to stand — the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Space Force and Coast Guard — and asked the audience to say "Thank you" for their service. All those in attendance did, their praise ringing out.
The gathering was one of several across Palm Beach County, which recalled the service of men and women in uniform. Others took place in Wellington, Jupiter and at Palm Beach National Cemetery in suburban Boynton Beach.
Survivors' goal: Making sure the fallen not forgotten
Mike Trim, a WPTV morning news anchor and a Navy veteran, was the day's keynote speaker at Palm Beach Memorial Park. He spent four years after high school aboard the USS McFaul as an information systems technician, deployed abroad to the Mediterranean and Adriatic seas.
On Monday, he shared the story of the hardest phone call he has ever received.
Trim said the call informed him that his friend had lost his life during the war in Iraq. He says it’s important to remember the true meaning of Memorial Day, and that for so many families, it's not all about the barbeques that it might be for others.
“I realized how hard it had been on me when I looked and saw my 8-year-old son had over heard everything,” Trim recalled.
Marioni wasn’t the only veteran there honoring those who fought for the United States. Tom Holloran, now 75, said he served in the Vietnam War at 19 years old. He fought during the North Vietnamese invasion of Laos.
Every Sunday since Holloran returned home from Vietnam, he has lit a candle for the brothers in arms he lost during the war from 1967 to 1968.
“Memorial Day is a time to reflect on the brothers and sisters we lost defending freedom for our wonderful nation,” Holloran said. “I do not forget those I lost during the war."
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Memorial Day sees hundreds gather to honor military personnel who died
