A deep voice crooning Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire” faintly carried across a sea of American flags and marble gravestones at Fort Logan National Cemetery on Monday morning.
As veterans, active servicemen and women, and family and friends of fallen members of the country’s armed forces gathered for the annual Memorial Day ceremony, Alan Rael stood over the gravestone of his mother and father, Alfonso and Theresa Rael, and serenaded them with his guitar.
Rael said his father, a member of the U.S. Marine Corps, succumbed to cancer in 2007, but his lessons of integrity, hard work and music will always resonate.
“Our house was always full of song,” Rael said. “I miss them so bad.”
While he enjoyed singing the country music his father shared with him, Rael said he would wander down the gravestones to sing gospel songs for others who have died.
Rael, a Denver resident, said he often comes to the cemetery to pay respects to his parents, but he said on Memorial Day, it has a special meaning.
“I’m proud to be an American,” he said. “I’m proud that my dad served and that he and my mom raised eight hardworking kids.”
During the ceremony where hundreds gathered to honor those who gave their lives for our country, Carl Mather stood apart from the crowd with a trombone in hand.
Quiet and looking serious, he waited for his cue to begin playing “Taps.”
Although he said he had been playing trombone for nearly his entire life, this was a defining moment.
“It’s a really serious thing, playing this,” Mather said. “I’m honored to be here.”
The Denver resident said a friend encouraged him to join the ensemble playing at the Memorial Day ceremony, and, with two uncles and a grandfather who fought for their country, Mather said it just felt right to be there.
A few sections over from Rael, the Lucero family was setting up blue folding chairs around the gravestone of John Lucero, a Korean War veteran.
Sam Jeffers of Thornton, a Desert Storm veteran who came to honor his father-in-law, said: “It’s beautiful out here. … We come out here to be with the ones who have passed.”
Smiling at her family, Jeffers’ wife, Tina Lucero, said, “It’s healing to be here.”
Elizabeth Hernandez: 303-954-1223, ehernandez@denverpost.com or
