COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho – Every Memorial Day service is special, and 2024’s wreath laying ceremony at the Coeur d’Alene Memorial Gardens was no different, with dozens on hand to mark the solemn holiday.
Leatha Adams brings her family to the Memorial Gardens every year, and has for decades.
“I am grateful for the people that served our country so that we have freedoms,” Adams said. “My father, my brothers have all served in the military, my husband’s family too have served. It means a great deal to us.”
“It’s just something that’s stuck with us, something that you do to honor those that have gone on before,” said Amelia Odeen.
Now, Odeen is passing the tradition on to her 11-year-old son, Jeddy.
“I get to hear tales of all of my uncles and aunts and great grandmas and grandpas,” Jeddy Odeen said. “It’s really nice, I get to hear their tales and get to technically see them every year.”
Flags, flowers and pinwheels marked the headstones of fallen service members.
The names of those who passed away during this last year were read aloud, followed by the toll of a bell and a 21 gun salute.
“Today is meant to honor our heroes who took the warrior path to protect our freedoms and who did not come home,” said Coeur d’Alene Pappy Boyington Marine Corps League 966 Commandant Dennis Dodd. “Please remember that today–especially today–is not a day to thank a veteran for their service. Today’s about honoring our heroes, our warriors who made the ultimate sacrifice.”
Guest speaker Kootenai County Sheriff Bob Norris recounted a childhood memory to the crowd, of seeing a military vehicle pulling up to a home in his neighborhood in the late 1960s to tell a family their son wasn’t coming home from Vietnam, and how they were never the same again.
“Freedom is not free, freedom is very, very expensive,” Norris said. “For him and many, many others, Memorial Day is every day, not just every year.”
“It’s really nice to see everybody out here,” Jeddy Odeen said. “You don’t get to see these people every day, so it’s really special.”
