CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. — Chesterfield County held is annual Memorial Day Ceremony at its Vietnam Veterans Memorial Building Exhibition Hall Monday, a fitting location as county leaders and former service members and their families reflected on the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam conflict.
As part of the ceremony, the names of 13 Chesterfield men who died during the conflict were read aloud. Additionally, the names of 16 different service members who were killed during the Beirut Bombing, Operation Freedom, and Operation Iraqi Freedom, were read aloud.
Mary Reed, whose son Jeff was killed in Iraq in 2009, was presented a folded American flag in honor of her son's service at the ceremony.
The former L.C. Bird High School graduate was 23 years old when he passed away.
"We called him an old soul," Reed said, noting that her son was a "character" who never feared sharing his opinions with others.
Reed said she, however, had a fear when her son was deployed overseas.
"I can tell you that when he left for the Army, my worst feeling was, 'He's going where nobody cares about him.'" And I found out that wasn't true," Reed said.
"They all care about each other a lot," Reed said, commenting on those who served beside her son. "We've met many, many soldiers over the years, who have made the effort to come here, from wherever they were in the United States, and some of them still come all the time."
Reed said before the Memorial Day service, while she and her family visited her son's gravesite in Chester, she met a complete stranger who had heard about her son's passing, and had made a point to visit his gravesite since his death.
“He’s visited many times, we visit many times, but we’ve never crossed paths until today, so that proves he’s never forgotten," Reed said.
Reed, other families, and former service members are urging community members to learn more about military service, and the sacrifice that often comes with it.
"We need to remember that it’s not a happy day, it’s a solemn remembrance day, and it’s up to us to educate the public on what that means, because I can assure you, Gold Star families, it’s not a happy day for them," said Lt. Colonel Curt Powell, a US Marine Corps Retired Veteran who received the 2024 Veteran of the Year Award for Virginia's 4th Congressional District.
Lt. Colonel Powell serves as a Mentor Coordinator at the Chesterfield Veteran Treatment Docket, which provides treatment and supervision services for justice-involved veterans suffering from either post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and/or substance abuse disorder.
During Monday's ceremony, he asked attendees continue to come to ceremonies honoring service members and to learn more about military service, noting active-duty service members make up less than 1% of all U.S. adults.
"What we ask is that the ultimate sacrifice of our brothers and sisters never, ever, ever, ever be forgotten," Powell said. Many of our WWII veterans are now gone. WWI vets gone. Time marches on, but we must never forget that. We must continue to have these gatherings to honor them.
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