The man is Rick Wallace, and his son Frost — Robert Wallace’s son and grandson.

“We come out here every year,” Rick Wallace said, choking back a bit of emotion. “It is what he would have wanted.”

Among the many veterans buried in Fairview is Army Cpl. Carl Edmonds, a classmate of Wallace’s who graduated from Scottsbluff High School in 1966. Edmonds was killed in Vietnam by an enemy grenade.

“He was a good man,” Rick Wallace said.

As Rick and Frost made there way through the rest of the flag-decorated graves, more families came to place flowers at the bases of tombstones and honor the dead.

Between Fairview in Scottsbluff, and the Sunset Memorial Park on Highway 26 between Scottsbluff and Mitchell, lie the remains of those who served during war and peace going back to the Civil War to the most recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The ceremonies Monday brought back memories of many of the fallen.

“Memorial Day has been officially celebrated since may of 1868, commemorating the defenders of our Republic during the civil war,” Tom Arends, Veterans of Foreign Wars Post #1681, read from a proclamation during Memorial Day ceremonies. “The meaning of Memorial Day is as powerful and as meaningful as it was 149 years ago, for today, America finds herself again at war.”

The guest speaker for the ceremony was Jamie Jakub, adjutant for the Disabled American Veteran’s Department of Nebraska.

“For most veterans, it is the men and women we served alongside who, through their service and sacrifice for others, live on as heroes in our hearts forever,” Jakub said. “While few receive the nation’s highest honor, many gave their lives in uniform, and many more were taken from us after, result of injuries or illness contracted in service.”

Among a few of the names were 21-year-old Army Spc. Jamie Wolf, who died from injuries he suffered on Nov. 6, 2003, when an improvised explosive device exploded near his convoy as it moved through Mosul, Iraq. His mother, Chris Wolf, has devoted her life following her son’s death to honoring and assisting veterans.

“For those of you who are veterans, you understand the deeper meaning of military brother- and sisterhood,” Wolf said, while holding back tears. “You became united as one while living and working side by side for days on end, sometimes in the most horrendous situations and conditions. But that didn’t stop you from doing what you were trained to do and you did it to the best of your ability.

“You mourn for those you served with and for those you never knew who did not return. You know the cost of freedom. For those of us, who have never served in the military, we can never begin to understand what you experienced. Each person’s experience is different, and no one can be compared with the other.

“I’ve learned over the last 13 years that I will never say, ‘I know how you feel’, because in reality that can’t happen. But I can understand your grief, and how real it is.”

May 9 would have been Jamie Wolf’s 35th birthday. Chris Wolf said she found an old picture of Jamie from when he graduated the eighth-grade, which she posted on Facebook.

“There was so many wonderful and loving comments made, but one stood out from the rest,” Wolf said. “Our good friend Sue (McLaughlin) said, ‘You always made me smile and laugh, so today I will make someone smile and laugh in memory of you.’ These words touched my heart, as I have made the same kind of statement many years ago.

“Instead of letting my grief swallow me up, I would do something every day to honor him.

“I am so grateful that I found the Veterans Upward Bound Program at WNCC and for Ce Merrigan, who gave me the opportunity to work with veterans of all ages, needs and situations. Every time I work with a veteran, I feel I am honoring Jamie in a way that he would approve.