Hundreds of Coloradans gathered at Fort Logan National Cemetery for the first time in two years on Memorial Day to remember and honor those who died while serving their country.

The Department of Veterans Affairs hosted a wreath-laying ceremony along with the playing of Taps, a moment of silence, a rifle volley, a F-16 flyover and speeches from notable figures in the military and Fort Logan community.

Brig. Gen. Scott Sherman, who serves as the director of joint staff for Colorado’s National Guard, delivered the keynote address at the ceremony, calling Memorial Day a shared moment of remembrance that connects all Americans.

“Memorial Day is a vivid reminder of the prices that have been paid by our service members and their families for our liberty,” Sherman said. “It’s also an appropriate time to reflect on the burden shared by those left behind and the impact that loss has had on our families, workplaces and communities.

“People leave a footprint. Their contributions make a difference. And their loss leaves an impact.”

Sherman recognized the nearly 7,000 service members who have died since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack right before multiple F-16s flew across the clear blue sky above the cemetery.

“That’s the sound of freedom right there,” he said.

Tom Webb watched the ceremony in a bright red Colorado Avalanche jacket, with a Buddy Poppy on his zipper. Last month marked 50 years since Webb left the service as second class petty officer in the U.S. Navy, and he’s come to Fort Logan’s Memorial Day ceremony every year for the past 25-30.

“If you’re a veteran, you remember veterans,” Webb said.

Webb’s parents and in-laws are all buried at Fort Logan, as well as friends he fought alongside with in Vietnam and played ball with in high school. He said his father was a PT boater and is probably the reason why he joined the Navy. Someday, he said, Fort Logan will also be his own final resting place.

Adrian and Nancy Noonan said this was the first time they were able to make it for the Memorial Day ceremonies at Fort Logan, but they’ve frequented the cemetery to honor their own loved ones regularly. The couple brought a bundle of roses they spread across their relatives’ graves, including Adrian’s parents, grandparents and uncle, and Nancy’s father.

Boss and Samantha Borges, twins of age 9, stood alongside their great-grandfather’s grave with their mother, Christal Perkins, where all three left a penny on top of Pvt. Burt A. Borges’s headstone. This is a sign so others walking through the cemetery know someone came to pay their respects.

“This is like the only way we get to see him,” Samantha said. “Some people might think it’s just a stone, but for us it’s family.”

Perkins said coming to visit on Memorial Day has become a yearly tradition since the kids never got to meet their great-grandfather, who is her husband’s grandfather. He served in World War II with the U.S. Army, his headstone read.

Marshall Allen came to honor his father, who also served in World War II as a captain in the U.S. Army. He led a group of 180 responsible for feeding the soldiers on the front lines in Europe. 

“They had an inventory of two million rations they had to move every day,” Allen said of his father’s team. “They traveled 50-75 miles a day the last three of four months of the war.

“Thank God he wrote all that down so the succeeding generations after me will know what kind of person he was.” 

PHOTOS: Memorial Day ceremony at Fort Logan National Cemetery