ROCKLAND – It was a bit cloudy and a little on the chilly side, but that didn't stop Rockland from having a beautiful and perfect Memorial Day service and parade. The parade began at Boston Financial and stopped at Chapman Park fr ceremonies before making its way on down Main Street to the ferry terminal and a laying of a wreath in the water there.

Walker Hutchins welcomed those attending the ceremonies to Chapman Park.

"We thank each of you who have served," he said, "but realizing today is a day to remember those who have given their lives in service to our country."

Hutchins then quoted a piece of scripture from John :15.

"No greater love hath any man than this that he lay down his life for his brother."

Bill Batty, Jr,. then led the park in the Invocation.

"Father, God. Eternal unchanging Holy Father," he prayed. "Today we give you thanks fir the men and women of the armed forces of the United States, those who were willing and made the ultimate sacrifice. We seek to honor their ideals today and the ideals for which they died."

Following the Invocation Hutchins introduced Rockland Mayor Valli Geiger.

Geiger said it was a day to remember our fallen soldiers and she is the daughter of one of them.

"My father was career Air Force," she said. "He served 16 years and died at age 32. I was six years old. When my father died, my mother was 24, pregnant and with two children. In the space of a few weeks we went from a family living in a small village in England with ducks, chickens and pigeons in the backyard. I went to an English grammar school where I was the little American girl with the accent; to losing a husband, a father, to my mother miscarrying, to losing a home and landing in upstate New York, to going to an elementary school where I was bewilderingly turned into the little English girl with the accent."

Geiger expressed that the loss of those men and women lasts forever.

"No soldier is alone," she said. "He or she is connect in a hundred ways to parents, siblings, husbands, wives, sons, daughters and employers. Our lives are altered and our grief is boundless. This is the day we stop and acknowledge our losses."

Geiger said soldiers serve when and where they are asked. She said that is why it is up to citizens to make sure their sacrifice is worth their deaths and our loss.

Geiger was followed by Rockland's poet laureate Carol Bachofner, who recited a poem she wrote entitled, "The Monument."

The Bay Winds North Wind Ensemble played musical selections throughout the ceremony, including taps.

Navy Sea Bee Retired, Mike McNeil laid the wreath at the Chapman Park Monument to honor those fallen. This was followed by a 21 gun salute and taps played by Chris Blum and Teri Crockett.

Mr. Bill Batty Jr. gave the Benediction and the color guard took its place back in the parade line where it resumed its progression up Main Street.

Mayor Geiger said the ceremony is always moving for her.

"It's so important that once a year we stop and remember," she said. "I'm so appreciative of the people that puts all this together. I'm so amazed at our community and how every person and groups you don't know anything about are working to enrich the community in their own way."