BCSO Honor Guard, Aviation Unit, Community Relations Unit Take Place in Memorial Day Ceremonies Throughout Brevard County

BCSO PARTICIPATES IN ceremonies in Rockledge, Merritt Island, Cape Canaveral National Cemetery

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA– This past Memorial Day Weekend I was honored to take part along with our Honor Guard, Aviation Unit, and Community Relations Unit in several Memorial Day events that took place throughout Brevard County.

Our members were extremely proud to be part of the ceremonies in Rockledge, Merritt Island and at the Cape Canaveral National Cemetery where we honored our Military Heroes who paid the ultimate sacrifice in protecting our great country.

I was equally proud to serve as a speaker at the Rockledge Memorial Day Event, the Veterans Center in Merritt Island Event and as the Emcee for the Memorial Day Ceremony at the Cape Canaveral National Cemetery.

Having the opportunity to take part in celebrating the heroic lives of the brave men and women who gave it all for us was both humbling and an honor.

I would like to personally thank all of our agency members for taking part in this weekend’s events and for all they did to make each event so special for those in attendance. Your actions truly served our fallen heroes with Honor, Dignity and Pride.

Below is a transcript of the speech I delivered during the Cape Canaveral National Cemetery event that I thought I would share with those in our community who were unable to attend.

I strongly believe that it is our duty as citizens of this great nation, to never forget those who sacrificed their lives for all of us, and further, to always remember that they fought to protect our way of life and the precious freedoms guaranteed to us by the United States Constitution.

-Sheriff Wayne Ivey

“Good Afternoon Everyone,”

If you google search Memorial Day, you will find that it is “a solemn day of remembrance for those who died serving in the American Armed Forces dating as far back as the Civil War.”

However in layman’s terms, today is the day we pause from our every day lives to honor our fallen heroes who each gave their own lives for our freedoms and our way of life.

A day that once a year we take time away from the hustle and bustle of life to say thank you to those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country, so that you and I can enjoy our freedom of speech, freedom of religion, the right to bear arms, and the many other precious rights and guarantees we have as citizens of this great country.

Today is also the day that many of us take off from work, have cookouts, and go to the beach as we celebrate another national holiday. I mean after all, it’s not just another day…it’s Memorial Day where once a year we say thank you to the courageous men and women who died protecting us, our freedoms, our families, and our way of life.

But that’s just us…because for those who lost a dad, mom, husband, wife, son, daughter, brother, sister, or other family member, today is no different than any other day of the week, month , or year because it is just another day in their lives without their loved one who is the bravest and sweetest soul they ever knew.

Today is just another day for them without being able to talk to their child, share good and bad times with their spouse, or reach out and touch the hand they so desperately want to hold again.

You see for us we look at today as a special day to honor our heroes but for them today is a day when our entire nation stops and thinks about what they think about and live every day…the loss of an American Hero and a Patriot who gave it all for all of us.

For nearly 6 generations, American Soldiers have been giving their lives for our great nation, each dying for what they truly believed in…our country and our freedoms.

Each of them and the millions who served alongside them put their lives on the line to protect each of us sitting here today in this great nation and those who will be born into this nation today and for generations to come.

They worked hard, they faced evils, and they did it all with honor, dignity, and pride in a great nation. They made sacrifices like none of us can imagine or probably even endure. They served as patriots and heroes but more than anything else they served as Americans.

They made their sacrifices and now its our generation’s time to make ours. Today I am asking you and everyone in our community to enlist in our next great challenge.

I’m not asking you to move away from your family to serve, I’m not asking you to go to Boot Camp or even charge a hill.

What I am asking is that you stand shoulder to shoulder together and make sure that our heroes are never forgotten. I’m asking you to join with me to make sure that we don’t just celebrate our fallen heroes around the BBQ Grill, but instead celebrate them each and every day around our homes, our businesses, our lives and most importantly in our hearts.

Our next great challenge is to make sure that generations to come know who they were, what they fought for and what they achieved.

Our next great challenge is to make sure that every drop of blood that was spilled to protect our Constitution was not spilled in vain, but instead was spilled as a way to forever protect our freedoms and to forever lament our commitment to be like no other country in the world.

While today we have amazing soldiers that are fighting to protect our freedoms across the oceans of the world we need to band together as “soldiers of freedom” right here in our nation to say “leave our constitution alone because brave young men and women died to protect it and we will never forget their sacrifice or allow it to be in vain.

So as you leave here today I am asking you to take an oath to serve our fallen heroes by doing everything possible to forever remember them.

Fly your flags high, put American Flags on you car, wear a lapel pin that shows your pride in our nation, heck paint your house red, white, and blue for all I care but please starting right now, do everything in your power to make sure that our heroes are never forgotten and that generations to come will know exactly how heroic they were and just how much they sacrificed for our freedoms.

God Bless everybody and have a great day remembering our heroes.”

– Sheriff Wayne Ivey

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