Despite cookouts, travel plans and three-day weekend festivities, Covingtonians filled nearly every seat in the American Legion Post 32 building to honor the fallen this Memorial Day.

The annual ceremony is a longstanding tradition that honors the men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice. This year’s ceremony was moved indoors due to the threat of rain.

Post 32 Commander Bobby Hamby led Monday’s ceremonies with a reminder that Memorial Day is not a joyous occasion.

“I’m here to tell you that Memorial Day is not a happy day,” Hamby said. ”It’s a day set aside to remember the men and women who paid the ultimate sacrifice in defense of our freedom, of our nation and our flag.”

Following Hamby’s opening remarks, the floor was handed over to keynote speaker Bill Dolan, a longtime community member and veteran.

Dolan admitted that Memorial Day can be a “confusing” holiday due to its somber nature. After describing the difference between Memorial Day and Veterans Day, he shared that approximately 1.4 million Americans have been killed in armed combat over the country’s 250-year span.

While the 1.4 million number is staggering, Dolan wanted everyone to look past the large generalization and remember each veteran by who they are.

“Every one of them was an individual with life dreams and plans,” Dolan said. “Every one of them had a family. Every one of them was either a brother, a father, a sister, a mother, a wife and they didn’t get to come home. And they did that so we could have the life we live today.”

Dolan also emphasized these fallen veterans’ role in protecting America's constitutional rights. One of these rights is the right to vote. He believes that this right is one of the many ways Americans can honor the fallen.

As he concluded, Dolan urged everyone to take a break from their three-day weekend plans to honor the true reason in those who gave it all.

“Never forget,” Dolan said. “Let us never forget, and may God bless those that gave their all.”

Following Dolan’s speech, 83 names were read aloud as those who lost their lives in the front lines of combat. One of those names was Staff Sgt. Carl Ray Fuller, who was killed in 2005.

Fuller was in the midst of his second tour in Iraq when he and three others were killed by an explosive device in Baghdad. He was 44 years old.

Fuller was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart awards.

“May we never forget the sacrifice that Carl and so many others have made to preserve our freedom and our way of life,” Hamby said. “God bless America.”