Tamaqua’s Memorial Day speaker, Charles J. Odorizzi III, said that it doesn’t have to be the last Monday in May for Americans to honor those who have given their lives in defense of the country.

“We can honor their sacrifice by fully striving to make the world a better place tomorrow than anybody today could have ever imagined it could become,” Odorizzi said.

Tamaqua’s annual ceremonies took place in the Odd Fellows Cemetery Monday morning, following a parade down Broad Street.

Veterans, Scouts, first responders and the Tamaqua Area Raider Marching Band all took part in the event honoring fallen heroes.

The ceremony honored the 94 service members from Tamaqua who have died defending the country, as well as the 70 veterans from the town who died since last Memorial Day.

Event host Eric Zizelmann read off a list of each deceased veteran while the parade’s grand marshal, Karl Smulligan, and Mayor Nathan Gerace placed a memorial wreath on the town’s Civil War Memorial.

The Rev. Robert Finlan of St. John XXIII provided the invocation and benediction.

Speakers highlighted how Memorial Day unifies the country in respect for those who died to protect it.

“All those distinctions which divide us the rest of the year are set aside, and we are here, simply as Americans,” Odorizzi said.

Debra Baddick, whose brother died in Vietnam, encouraged the attendees to recite “The American Creed,” as a way to come together amid great political division.

Odorizzi said that the greatest all-time Memorial Day speech was Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, because it unified the country after it was torn apart by civil war.

He gave credit to the spouses and family members who have to carry on the memory of the loved ones who made the ultimate sacrifice.

Odorizzi reflected on his time in the Air Force with pride. But he said that unlike him, those who have been called upon to fight for the United States have a unique form of bravery. He said that it may not look like the John Wayne form of bravery, and that many who fought may have wished to be anywhere else on earth than where they were at that time - but nonetheless their sacrifice helped continue the American way of life.

“They had a job to do, and they did it,” he said.