CHINA GROVE — A service at West Lawn Memorial Park marked the first of this year’s local tributes to the men and women who lost their lives in service to the nation.

Timothy May, director of the Hefner VA Medical Center, spoke at the Memorial Day service sponsored by Disabled American Veterans Chapter No. 54.

“All across our country, in large cities and small, America bows its head in recognition and remembrance of our fallen heroes,” May said in a speech that rang with pride and patriotism.

Monday is Memorial Day. President Bush will lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, honoring soldiers whose fates remain unknown.

May urged those at Saturday’s service to recognize the National Moment of Remembrance at 3 p.m. Monday. Americans are asked to pause for one minute in gratitude and unity.

Other services are planned as follows:

n Salisbury National Cemetery, Monday at 11 a.m., sponsored by the Rowan County Veterans Council.

n Town Park in Kannapolis, Monday at noon, sponsored by Beaver-Pittman American Legion Post No. 115.

For many, May said, Memorial Day has come to signal the beginning of summer, the opening of neighborhood pools and a time for picnics and barbecues.

But it is, more significantly, a time for recognizing the price this nation — the oldest constitutional democracy in the world — must pay to preserve liberty, he said. It’s a price often measured in lives.

“As we honor their memory, let us pledge that their lives, their sacrifices and their courage shall be justified and remembered for always,” May said.

At the same time, he said, the nation should honor those military men and women who stand ready to defend against future attacks on freedom.

The Saturday service included participation by the Junior ROTC unit from South Rowan High School in Landis and trumpet players from the South Rowan High Band. The Rowan County Veterans Council rifle squad also took part.

Those who attended saw a new monument memorializing fallen soldiers. A marker showing a rifle and a helmet is still to be added.

May observed that the nation has remembered its war dead every year since 1868. It is an observance signaled, he said, by flowers and flags, parades and prayers. It is a holiday of mixed emotions.

“We are proud of the glory they have won, proud of the job they have done to keep us free,”he said.“And we are sad that good Americans had to suffer and die.”

More than a million Americans have given their lives in defense of freedom.

“They didn’t volunteer to die,”he said.“They volunteered to defend values for which men and women have always been willing to die, the values that make up what we call civilization.”