Memorial Day isn't just about the beginning of summer and our first backyard picnics, but, rather, it's about remembering the cost of freedom in individual lives.

So were the words spoken by Vietnam veteran Baron Cebrosky, during the Memorial Day services held in the Palmerton Borough Park on Monday.Cebrosky, of Palmerton, was drafted during the Vietnam War and served in the U.S. Army during 1966 and 1967. Also drafted together on the same day with Cebrosky were three others from the Palmerton area: Bryan Leyfert, Francis Kiss and Leon Eckhart."Leon's name has a star behind it," said Cebrosky, who was moved to tears. "He is one who gave his all."Cebrosky recounted that one day during an attack while at Firebase Gold at sunrise, "My equipment harness/backpack, which was next to our shallow fox hole, had three of its four canteens leaking water from shrapnel, and all my ammunition clips were riddled with shrapnel and were useless. Covered with dirt, I ended up with only a small piece of shrapnel in my knee."Cebrosky said, "To this day, I refer to the small scar on my knee as my "lucky scar," and I no longer complain about being a part of those who were told to 'move south' at midday."Moving ahead to May of that year, Cebrosky said he and Leyfert were part of a group protecting the removal of stone for road construction at a laterite pit a few miles from base camp.While walking along a bamboo hedge row, Cebrosky said he was about to go through one spot when Leyfert called him to come up to where he was, where he saw a better opening.When Cebrosky got to within 15 feet or so from Leyfert, Leyfert stepped on a booby-trap mine, which put both of them in the hospital. Leyfert took the brunt of the explosion, with most of Cebrosky's injuries being minor compared to Leyfert's.Both men ended up in different hospitals, and they wouldn't see each other until many years after they were out of the Army while in the borough park during the-then Palmerton Hospital Festival."I told Bryan that while he put me in the hospital by calling me to where he was, he most likely saved my life that day," he said. "My several close encounters with death left me thankful, but also having my own unique type of PTS known as guilt syndrome, sort of like survivors guilt."Cebrosky said it was the ultimate honor to serve as main speaker of the event."I was both shocked and humbled at having been asked to speak this Memorial Day," he said. "I consider it a great privilege, one I never expected to experience."Before the services in the borough park, the borough's annual Memorial Day Parade was sponsored by the Palmerton United Veteran's Organization, which consists of American Legion Post 269, and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 7134.