Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1212 Commander Daniel Close lays a wreath at the Veterans War Memorial in City Park in Parkersburg during a Memorial Day service Monday morning. (Photo by Michelle Dillon)

PARKERSBURG — People gathered at City Park in Parkersburg Monday morning to honor people who have died in service to the United States.

American Legion Post 15 hosted a Memorial Day Service at 10 a.m. at the park in front of the Veterans War Memorial and a small crowd watched the ceremony.

Also participating in the service were members of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1212, American Legion Auxiliary Unit 15, South Parkersburg Woman’s Club and Veterans Museum of the Mid-Ohio Valley.

AL Auxiliary Unit 15 President Patsy Griner spoke about the importance of Memorial Day and what it means. She said the presence of people at the ceremony “is a tribute to those lost troops and to their families.”

According to Griner, Memorial Day is about remembrance.

Members of American Legion Post 15 Color Guard fire a rifle salute during a Memorial Day Service the post held at City Park in Parkersburg Monday. (Photo by Michelle Dillon)

“It is a way to say ‘We remember,'” Griner said. “From the soldiers who shivered and starved through the winter at Valley Forge, to the ‘Doughboys’ crouched in the muddy trenches of France, to the platoon who patrolled the hazy jungles of Vietnam, the young men and women patrolling the mountains of Afghanistan, we remember and we honor them all.”

During the ceremony the names of members of AL Post 15, VFW Post 1212 and AL Auxiliary Unit 15 who died in the past year were read aloud.

Then came a wreath laying ceremony. Wreaths were laid at the foot of the Veterans War Memorial by members of AL Auxiliary Unit 15, VFW Post 1212, South Parkersburg Woman’s Club and Veterans Museum of Mid-Ohio Valley.

Then a benediction was given by the VFW Post 1212 chaplain. The AL Post 15 Color Guard gave a rifle salute after the wreath laying and then “Taps” was played.

The Memorial Day service at City Park has been going on for “many, many, many years,” Griner said and the purpose of it is “to pay tribute to veterans and their families and those who are departed, having gone on before us.”

Wreaths decorate the Veterans War Memorial in City Park in Parkersburg Monday morning. Wreaths were laid as part of a Memorial Day ceremony held by American Legion Post 15. (Photo by Michelle Dillon)

The crowd in attendance is typical for most years, according to Griner, and the storm clouds overhead did not seem to deter attendees.

According to Griner, the roots of Memorial Day are found in the more than 600,000 people who died during the Civil War.

The United States National Archives’ website says Memorial Day was initially referred to as Decoration Day. It was observed by many communities after the Civil War, and Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic John A. Logan picked May 30, 1868, as a day to decorate the graves of Union troops.

“Memorial Day is now designated as an annual day or remembrance to honor all those who have died in service to the United States during peace and war,” the website said.

Members of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1212, left, salute the flag while members of the American Legion Post 15 Color Guard, right, stand with rifles while “Taps” is played during a Memorial Day ceremony at City Park Monday morning. (Photo by Michelle Dillon)