Veterans, families remember those who died while serving

Veteran organizations across El Paso came together to honor those who died while serving.

Veteran Juan Solis took to the Old Glory Memorial in Northeast El Paso to pay tribute to who is father and godfather who passed away.

“There’s a lot of men and women who have given up their lives for my freedoms, and the liberties that I have,” Solis said. “I want to pay my respect back to them.”

For Solis, Memorial Day symbolizes a time for reflection, not necessarily celebration.

“[Some people] don’t understand what Memorial Day is really about. There are things now that a lot of people are taking for granted. They forget,” Solis said. “Go out and have your barbecue, but don’t forget what it’s really about.”

Veteran Ivan Garcia was at The Ft. Bliss Memorial Ceremony. He echoes what Solis said.

“Well, Americans like to party, and there’s nothing bad with that. But how about setting aside this day? Party Friday, party Saturday, but honor this day,” Garcia said. “There’s nothing wrong with celebrating, but also celebrate the lives of those people who are not here anymore.”

In Concordia Cemetery in Central El Paso there are 257 veterans buried.

“The veterans that are buried here go all the way back to the Civil War,” veteran John Ceballos said. “We have veterans from World War I, World War II, Vietnam, Korea, so we’ve got a variety of different eras represented. We’re paying to tribute to all those deceased veterans.”

This is the fifth year there has been a Memorial Day celebration at Concordia.

“Out here, we’ve got dirt, we’ve got rocks, we’ve got cacti all over the place. It’s not the beautiful plush lawns that you find in Arlington Cemetery, or Gettysburg National Cemetery. But these grounds are just as hallowed,” Ceballos said.