Hundreds ventured out to area services Monday honoring the dead who have fallen serving their country.
In the cool, blustery morning, a crowd of a few hundred converged on Citizens Cemetery in Prescott for the 14th annual Memorial Day program.
The Prescott Brass Ensemble performed as volunteers at the service welcomed visitors to the event with flowers to place on the graves of soldiers, many of whom died in the Civil War, and bearing flags of the nation and of the Confederacy.
Members from local groups such as the Aztlan Lodge and Order of Eastern Star and Masonic chapters, the Elks and Moose lodges, Independent Order of Oddfellows, Sons of Confederate Veterans and the VFW Buckey O’Neill Post joined a procession before a welcoming speech by former state Senate President Ken Bennett.
In period uniform, horseback members of the Arizona Rough Riders Historical Association and Camp Verde Calvary served as the Honor Guard for the flag raising following an invocation by Rev. Valerie Garrick of the First Congregational Church of Prescott.
All those in attendance stood in a solemn moment of silence as flags flew at half staff following Prescott Valley Police Chief Jim Maxson leading the pledge of allegiance and soloist Kate Howell singing the national anthem.
Fourth-generation Prescottonian Daniel-Paul Roberts, 5, laid a wreath at the base of the flag while his father, one of the Rough Riders looked on and Denise Robinson performed “Amazing Grace” on bagpipes.
State Rep. Andy Tobin brought more reverence to the moment with a reading of Francis Miles Finch’s Civil War poem “The Blue and the Grey,” as did County Supervisor Carol Springer reading the Gettysburg Address.
Mayor Jack Wilson reminded those in attendance of the reason for the holiday, noting “It is a day of remembrance and to reflect on those that have spent their lives for this country and made the ultimate sacrifice.”

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