KENMORE, N.Y. (WKBW) — The basement of the Milton J. Brounshidle American Legion Post 205 in Kenmore Avenue was packed with people on Monday after the Ken-Ton Memorial Day Parade wrapped up.
Veterans there reflected on the true meaning of Memorial Day.
7 News spoke with four veterans who shared their thoughts on this solemn holiday.
Dr. John Long, World War II veteran
"Memorial Day...I don't think about hot dogs and ice cream. I think about the 400,000 young soldiers that never came back home...I think about Pearl Harbor because I was just a young kid, at that time I was just 17 years old. As a young person, I thought to myself, this has got to be unreal, something like that couldn't happen. But it made a real impact on me. It really did. I think about so many of those young soldiers, never got back home to be able to raise a family and get married and enjoy all of the freedoms that we fought so hard to have for the rest of America."
Tom Mach, Vietnam War veteran
"As a Purple Heart recipient, I consider myself pretty lucky. I was wounded a couple of times and I'm still alive. I got home. August 16th, 1969. I had not lost a man up until then and I lost on that date, I lost a real good man, Davey Sutherland. He was from Georgia. A young man. He had two young children. He was killed in an attack on a fire support base that we were doing some work on. It was very tough, you know? I guess I just wasn't ready for something like that... I remember Davey and you know, it's something you don't forget."
Wayne Baumgartner, Vietnam War veteran
"Memorial Day is for those that gave it all for this country. They never got to come back and celebrate with us the freedoms that we have."
Nick Scott, Afghanistan and Iraq War veteran
"When I was in the Marine Corps, I was part of the invasion force going into Iraq in 2003 and we lost 24 good marines. and there's not a single day that I don't think about them. They're always with me."
