Bloomingdale honors fallen service members by saying their names

BLOOMINGDLAE, Ga. (WTOC) - Communities throughout the area took time to pause and remember the purpose of Memorial Day.

Dozens of veterans gathered at Bloomingdale Veterans Park for a memorial service that offered one of the best ways to honor and remember those who have fallen in the line of duty — by saying their names.

Retired Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Greene, who serves on Bloomingdale’s city council, read the names of three Army soldiers: Briana Alexandria Moffit, 23, of Savannah; Specialist Kennedy Ladon Sanders, 24, of Waycross; and Sergeant William Jerome Rivers.

Greene said reading the names helps people remember those who have given their lives to serve the country.

“It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same,” Greene said. “And so, we say their names, we say it every year.”

One fourth-generation military veteran said she came because of Michael Jordan, a Bloomingdale resident who made this year’s Memorial Day service special by kicking off a nearly 950-mile bike ride to Washington D.C. to honor families who lost one of their own.

“And for him to be 73-years young? It blessed me, and so I’m just happy to be a part of the community and see what great things are right in our backyards,” said Shirlenia Daniel, a 20-year Army veteran.

Daniel lost her first husband and the father of her children in the service. Monday, she talked about the time when she was on the other end of that tragic message.

“I remember she had on shoes that were uncomfortable, and I took off my shoes and I gave them to her because to me, it was like a family member and I’ll never forget them, so it means a lot to be able to just stand there and be with them,” Daniel said.

Greene said Memorial Day is an important day to help the next generation.

“Ronald Reagan said that this doesn’t pass down the bloodstream, every generation has to come back and has to do something to keep our freedom, and so they do so we want to honor those veterans that gave all, that last full measure,” Greene said.