Veteran’s cemetery hosts first Memorial Day ceremony

PARKER’S CROSSROADS, Tenn. – It was a somber day at the Tennessee State Veterans Cemetery in Parker’s Crossroads, as a large group of veterans and their family members attended a special memorial day program.

Director of the Cemetery, Marty Weed, is a Marine veteran. He says the event holds extra weight for him.

“It’s near and dear to my heart, I can’t imagine being anywhere else today, just to be thinking about our veterans…I can never forget the families,” said Weed.

The ceremony includes a presentation of “The Soldier’s Cross”, a reading of the names currently interred at the cemetery, and other military traditions.

“There are 69 veterans and family members interred at our cemetery right now, and that’s from World War II to Persian Gulf era of veterans and their families,” said Weed.

Veterans at the ceremony today said that this was a perfect way to get the message across.

“It’s nice to have something like this here, and it’s for all of the veterans and it’s for everybody that serves, and I think that it’s a good thing,” said Marine veteran Jerry McDonald.

“One of my friends was the first to be buried out here…I was honored to see that happen,” said fellow Marine veteran James Lindsey.

Weed says the cemetery will expand as the years go by.

“I know for the families with our veterans, they’ve done a lot of supporting, during their time while they were serving and certainly even after,” said Weed.