Memorial Day: 'They're never forgotten. Never.'
War dead remembered at Fort Sill cemetery

"I came for my family, said Ridley, 55, of Apache. "My brothers, my brothers-in-law, my nieces and nephews. Right now, we have 32 members of my immediate family in the military.

Ridley isn't one of them. The youngest of 12 children, she wasn't able to enlist, although four of her brothers did. No one from her family is buried at the Fort Sill cemetery, but she felt she needed to be there to honor their service and the memory of all of America's fallen.

"That's why I'm here, is just to let them know they're never forgotten, Ridley said. "Never.

Ridley, draped in a raincoat and clutching an umbrella, was one of about 300 people who braved light mist and cloudy skies to gather on the east side of the cemetery for Monday's ceremonies.

Maj. Gen. David P. Valcourt, commanding general of the U.S. Army Field Artillery Center in Fort Sill, delivered the keynote address. He was joined at the site by a handful of state senators and representatives, as well as other military personnel and Dr. Gilbert "Gib Gibson, the state's civilian aide to the U.S. secretary of the Army.

Valcourt called Monday's observances "tremendously significant and praised military veterans and those who gave their lives.

"Our freedoms have endured only because the price was paid by those brave men and women, Valcourt said.