For those who'd been to Memorial Day observances at Union Cemetery before, the scene was comfortingly familiar. Folding chairs set up alongside the veterans' monument held about 100 people, the songs and music of Liberty High School students rang out, and service members in crisp uniforms stood patiently awaiting their turn to speak.

But there were differences, too, between what went on there Monday and what's happened in years past. The crowd, once a collection of aging veterans and their families, is younger now. The number of people who wish to remember the fallen, and the number of fallen themselves, are both growing as war continues.

The link, according to Marine Lt. Col. Keith Canevaro, the keynote speaker, is that Americans continue to serve their country as their forefathers had.

Photos by Richard Wisdom

Geraldine Williams' late husband served as a U.S. Navy Lt. Commander in WWII and was buried at this cemetery six years ago.