[slideshow_deploy id=’1108′]At an impressive ceremony lead by mayor Al Litman, veterans were honored on Memorial Day at Veteran’s Memorial Park.

Speakers included state assemblyman Cresent Hardy who told the large crowd, “Why is it important to remember?  Nothing is really lost as long as you remember it, and our heroes only die if you forget them.”

Hardy concluded by quoting General George S. Patton, “It is foolish to morn the men who died, rather we should thank God that such men lived.”

Mayor Litman followed saying, “This is a patriotic community one that recognizes the sacrifices of our veterans.”  Litman then read a poem by Kelly Strong called “Freedom is Not Free.”  The poem concludes,

I thought of all the Children
Of the mothers and the wives
Of Fathers sons and husbands
With interrupted lives.

I thought about a graveyard
At the bottom of the sea
Of unmarked graves in Arlington
No.  Freedom is not free.

Litman then read the names of several Mesquite veterans and told briefly of their story and sacrifice.

“All of this is a very personal thing,” said Litman.