American Legion honors those lost on Memorial Day in Cambridge

CAMBRIDGE, Md. – Community members gathered in Cambridge at the American Legion in honor of Memorial Day. They celebrated the ultimate sacrifice made by veterans, and those lost in service.

“Choosing to go into this life as a single man with no kids and being deployed into a combat zone with two beautiful girls,” said Md. Secretary of Housing and Community Development Jake Day, an Army National Guard veteran.

Secretary Day says that was just One of the many sacrifices he had to make, and that veterans all across the country continue to make. “A year away from my babies is not a phrase or concept that I could have understood when I swore that first oath in 2009,” he said.

Secretary Day was deployed overseas when he served as Mayor of Salisbury. But, he was not the first to be sent into action during their term.

“There were two before me. One of those veterans, Brent Taylor, was killed in action in Afghanistan in 2018,” Secretary Day said. “I just can’t go through a memorial day without saying his name out loud, without thinking about him, his service and his sacrifice.”

Secretary Day says that many veterans understand that feeling of being torn away from their children, and not knowing what each night is like for them. It’s an incredible and painful sacrifice and certainly comes at a cost, he says; but it is something people do for the nation that they love.

“When you get called to duty you go to duty,” said Carlton Bryan, Commander of the Sons of the Legion Squadron 87.

Bryan says that he holds memorial day very near and dear to his heart because of his 22 years of service in the Air Force. “The sacrifices I made are ones that many, millions of service members have made without question,” he said.