At Evergreen Washelli Cemetery’s 99th Memorial Day ceremony, one family’s generations of service and sacrifice embodied the weight of the day.
SEATTLE — Rows of headstones with American flags stretched across Evergreen Washelli Cemetery as Seattle marked Memorial Day with its 99th annual ceremony Monday morning.
The event honored more than 1.3 million service members who have died in combat since the nation’s founding.
Among the crowds moving through the grounds were siblings Nancy and Richard Garrison, who volunteered to place flags on gravesites.
For the Garrisons, the day carries personal weight. Their father was a veteran who died a couple of years ago at the age of 99. Richard served in the Navy during the Vietnam War. Nancy’s husband also went to war and, she said, never fully returned.
“I feel like they killed him in Vietnam, but it just took him 50 years to fall down,” said Nancy Garrison.
Her husband spent decades battling the wounds of war; conditions she described as multiple problems related to Agent Orange and PTSD. Richard echoed the toll it took.
“Just the stress of it all. He never entirely recovered from it,” said Richard Garrison.
At the ceremony, a speaker addressed the crowd with the full measure of what the day represents, acknowledging the 1.3 million soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, and coast guardsmen who have given their lives in the nation’s conflicts.
“It is pretty hard to not cry. It is pretty touching,” Nancy said.
Richard put it simply, capturing the purpose that drew thousands to cemeteries across the country on Monday.
“They served their country, and they were willing to make the ultimate sacrifice,” he said.
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