A standing-room only crowd comprised of hundreds of Servicemembers, veterans, family members and members of the community gathered on Memorial Day at the Joint Base Lewis-McChord Cemetery to honor and remember American Servicemembers who died in service to their country. 

"We gather to pay tribute to those who gave their last full measure in battle," said I Corps Commanding General Lt. Gen. Curtis M. Scaparrotti, the day's guest speaker. "We gather to honor and to mourn and to celebrate the legacy of the men and women who made our freedom possible."

The service featured a wreath-laying ceremony at the cemetery's Tomb of the Unknown, a 21-gun salute conducted by the 2nd Battalion, 17th Field Artillery Regiment, renditions of "TAPS," the National Anthem and "America the Beautiful," and a poignant moment of silence.

More than 1 million U.S. servicemen and women have died defending America's freedom, Scaparrotti said. "The immensity of that sacrifice is difficult to appreciate ... As a young man, I never fully understood the silence of my father and other veterans on this day. But I understand it now."

"Despite the brevity or obscurity of their lives, (they) dignified our humanity and our profession by choosing to stand for something," said Chaplain (Col.) Gary Studniewski during the invocation. "(They) declared with their actions that preserving freedom and liberty was a cause to live and serve for and even to die for."

Scaparrotti called on those present to make the servicemembers' sacrifice matter. "Over the next year," he said, "pay honor to their sacrifice. Make that sacrifice matter."  

Memorial Day, originally called "Decoration Day" officially began May 30, 1868 at Arlington National Cemetery when flowers were placed on the graves of 20,000 fallen Union and Confederate Soldiers in tribute and remembrance of their service and sacrifice.  It became known as Memorial Day in 1966, and a national holiday in 1971.