By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

RESERVE – Men and women who died while serving their country were remembered and honored Friday afternoon in a stirring ceremony at the Southeast Louisiana War Veterans Home in Reserve.

Leaders from St. John and St. Charles parishes joined scores of retired veterans of all armed forces from across the River Region to pay tribute to those men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice to protect the freedom all Americans enjoy.

The keynote speaker was St. Charles Parish President V.J. St. Pierre, a Vietnam veteran who was wounded in battle. St. Pierre read a passage from “Flags of our Fathers,” a novel that tells the story of the six men who raised the American Flag at Iwo Jima during World War II. The men were immortalized in a photo and hailed as heroes.

St. Pierre visibly struggled through several parts of the emotional speech but hammered his point home in the final lines.

“The real heroes of Iwo Jima were the guys who didn’t come back,” St. Pierre read. “The ones who paid the ultimate price are the ones who deserve the most glory.”

Following St. Pierre’s speech, boys from the Bridge City Boys Club read patriotic essays and a group from the Marine Corps League out of Metairie performed a proper flag folding ceremony for the crowd.

At the conclusion, a Marine Corps league trumpeter played a somber rendition of Taps.

The afternoon concluded outside, where attendees were treated to a 21-gun salute, a soldier’s memorial display, and a flag burning ceremony.