El Paso honors fallen heroes on Memorial Day, remembering the “Forgotten Veterans of Concordia”
EL PASO, TX (KVIA) -- Today, El Paso honors those who gave their lives to serve our country. The historic Concordia Cemetery has over 400 veterans are buried, some dating back to the Spanish-American War. Today they will honor these veterans with a ceremony starting at 10 a.m.
Paul Albright, Chief Military Officer for the City of El Paso, told ABC-7 that these veterans are often forgotten, which is why they’ve been named the “Forgotten Veterans of Concordia,” he says “Even though that sounds sad, what it does is it spreads light on those veterans and in hopes of bringing more and more people to come out.”
Every year they offer a different group of veterans, this year they will have a special tribute for World War II veterans buried in the cemetery.
The cemetery, which dates back to the 1800s, was once one of six sites for U.S. Army posts in the El Paso area. Albright explains, “When Fort Bliss was first established, before it was named Fort Bliss, it had moved around in a couple of different spots. One of the spots was right here, and it was named Camp Concordia. Eventually, they had to move due to flooding, and they ended up where Fort Bliss is currently located."
El Paso is home to around 35,000 soldiers stationed at Fort Bliss and 60,000 to 70,000 veterans, making today a special day in the community. Albright notes this is a day of remembrance, not celebration, “There are sales all over the place, barbecues. People go out to have fun. And we appreciate that because it was our fighting service members that went out there to give them the right to do that. To us, it's a day to remember our fallen, those that were killed in combat that gave their lives for you to be able to say happy Memorial Day."
The other event happening today will be at the Fort Bliss National Cemetery, this will start at 9:00 a.m.
