“Soldier, rest! Thy warfare o’er,
Sleep the sleep that knows not breaking,
Dream of battled fields no more,
Days of danger, nights of waking.”

— Sir Walter Scott

KANNAPOLIS — Local veterans and other residents gathered Monday afternoon to honor the memory of 1.1 million Americans who lost their lives in war.

They also came, as they do every year on Memorial Day, to settle a debt owed those fallen soldiers, said Dr. Ed Tyson, keynote speaker and retiring superintendent of Kannapolis City Schools.

“We must acknowledge that freedom is not free; it is bought with the blood of our brothers and sisters,” he said. “... Those who have died so that we might enjoy freedom deserve the very best we can give them.”

To repay their sacrifice, the nation must pray for peace, defend democracy, participate in government, champion human rights and build communities that reflect the values of its heroes, he said.

Morning showers and threatening skies pushed Kannapolis’ Memorial Day observance indoors, from just-renamed Veterans Park to nearby Gem Theatre.

But that didn’t stop Kannapolis Mayor Ray Moss from officially proclaiming the renaming of Town Park, where veterans groups have held services honoring veterans and casualties of war for years.

The Kannapolis City Council approved the change last month, and the city plans to work with veterans groups to install a permanent memorial in the future where a wall once stood listing the names of local boys who went to war.

“The history of that little piece of land is significant in our city,” Moss said. “Forever more that little park will be known as Veterans Park ... A lot of activities will be taking place in that park.”

The Cabarrus County Council of Veterans Organizations sponsored the service, hosted by Beaver-Pittman American Legion Post 115, Poston-Perkins Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 8989 and Disabled American Veterans Chapter 54.

Most in the audience wore red poppies sold by the American Legion Auxiliary of Post 115. The proceeds go to the Hefner VA Medical Center in Salisbury and to fund programs for veterans in Cabarrus County.

The poppies symbolize the blood of the “brave souls who died prematurely,” said County Commissioner Coy Privette, who acted as master of ceremonies.

Monday’s service also recognized relatives, including the mothers of soldiers who lost their lives in wartime. There are only five such “Gold Star Mothers”left in Kannapolis, Privette said.

And speakers honored living veterans of U.S. wars. Privette said that there are no living veterans of World War I.

“If you wanted to express the appreciation to those, you waited too long,” Privette said. “I don’t want to fail to express to those still with us a great debt of gratitude.”

Many of those veterans stood at attention after the service, when the crowd filed back outside and stood under umbrellas beneath a canopy of trees in Veterans Park as the A.L. Brown Navy Junior ROTC fired rifles in salute and a drummer and bugler played taps.

“This town lost a lot,”said Hazel B. “Dink”Stirewalt of Kannapolis, one of three Pearl Harbor survivors recognized in the service. The others were Jack Anderson of Kannapolis and Clarence Randolph of Statesville.

All three served in the Army and were about a mile from the harbor — close enough to see the carnage but too far away to do anything but watch, Stirewalt said.

“It’s an honor and a privilege that some people still think about the veterans that helped preserve this country,” Stirewalt said. “I’m just thankful we’re still able to be here and enjoy it.”

Contact Scott Jenkins at 704-797-4248 or sjenkins@salisburypost.com .