They came from different parts of Maryland with the same objective: to remember.
To remember the men and women who served this country in conflicts past and present, many sacrificing their lives. To remember fathers, mothers, siblings and other relatives who were driven to serve despite the risk. And to honor the ones most recently lost.
"Those of us who are gathered here have done so out of a sense of debt and a feeling of obligation to the memory of the dead," said retired Rear Adm. Edgar S. Keats, who served during World War II in the Central Pacific, addressing the hundreds of people spilling out from under large white tents at Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens in Timonium. "We share a determination to preserve their memory."
Before Keats sat the families and supporters of nine Maryland Marines and soldiers who died in Afghanistan and Iraq since last Memorial Day. They watched, listened and sometimes dabbed their eyes during a ceremony that featured the 229th Maryland Army National Guard Band playing the national anthem and "God Bless America" and a 21-gun salute on the lush green grass dotted with small American flags that swayed in the warm breeze.
More than 20 members of Army Capt. Brian M. Bunting's immediate family came to the ceremony, each sporting a white T-shirt that said, "Remember Our Veterans" on the front. On the back were variations on a theme - "Remembering my husband, my hero" or "Remembering my brother, my hero" among them. Known as Bubba since childhood, Bunting was killed Feb. 24 in Afghanistan after an explosive detonated near his vehicle.
"He really means something to everybody," his wife, Nicole, said. "It's not just a name - it's a brother, it's a daddy, it's a son-in-law. It's someone really special."
Bunting, 29, of Potomac, is survived by his nearly 2-year-old son Connor and a baby boy expected to arrive in November - a child he and his wife had planned, she said, right down to his name: Cooper.
Nicole Bunting felt it was her job to preserve her husband's legacy, she said. "That's the least I can do."
The family planned to visit his grave at Arlington National Cemetery yesterday afternoon, they said.
For Anna Davis and her family, the loss of her husband, Army Master Sgt. Anthony Davis of Baltimore, was still fresh, but they came knowing that he would have appreciated it.
"I'm here to support him because I know he would be here if it had been the other way around," Anna Davis said.
