BLACK MOUNTAIN, N.C. (828newsNOW) — Veterans, their families and community members gathered at Western Carolina State Veterans Cemetery today for a Memorial Day ceremony. After a long weekend of rain, the ceremony was all sun, shining down on a crowd who beamed right back.

The observance was held at 10 a.m., Monday, May 25 at the Veterans Cemetery, 962 Old U.S. Hwy. 70, Black Mountain.

Taps, tears and togetherness

Several esteemed veterans spoke at the ceremony, which was overseen by master of ceremony Allan Perkal, chair of the Buncombe County Veterans Council and a United States Air Force veteran.

The keynote speaker was Emiliano Enea, who served in the United States Army from 2003-2008 in Iraq, Afghanistan and Korovo. Enea is also a board member of Brothers and Sisters Like These, a veterans writing group healing the pains of war by working with words.

Enea’s address was focused on his experiences living in New York City during 9/11 and losing friends and comrades in the wars which followed. Enea expressed gratitude to his friends and the veteran care providers in the crowd, and acknowledged those who he did not know.

“
To the faces that I do not recognize. May this be an occasion that we use to meet each other and make new connections,” Enea said to the crowd. “We stand here in a place of quiet honor, where the mountains and the wind join hands to carry the voices of those who can no longer speak for themselves.”

Enea urged every member of his audience to unite together in their support of soldiers still living and their remembrance of those who are gone.

“Standing here today, in this quiet sanctuary, of these mountains, I ask something of all. Remember them. 
Not just today, but every day. Remember that when we send our sons and daughters off to war, some will not come home,” Enea said. “Some will come home with lifelong injures, and some come home changed in ways we cannot see. 
However, all will carry the weight of what they’ve experienced. So, let us show grace to those who shoulder that burden, because behind every veteran is a story, often one that includes loss.”

Following Enea was Monica Blankenship, who served as a flight nurse for the U.S. Air Force from 1974-1981. A member of Brothers and Sisters Like These, Blankenship shared a piece of writing about her experiences working with soldiers to deliver orphaned children to safety during the fall of Saigon at the end of the Vietnam War. Blankenship was moved to tears recounting her story, which connected the brutality of war in the 1970s to that of the 2020s.

After Blankenship, Alfredo Hurtado, veteran of the Iraq War and Afghanistan War and a Purple Heart recipient, reflected on using his musical gifts to process trauma from serving overseas. Hurtado is the co-founder of Black Box Dance Theatre, a Raleigh-based nonprofit which uses the power of dance to work with veterans to tell their stories.

After the speakers, the A.C. Reynolds High School choir performed two pieces for the crowd, including an arrangement of “America the Beautiful” to a standing ovation.

Members of the American Legion Post 317, Marshall, N.C. closed the ceremony with a 21-gun salute and taps.

For those who would like to watch the ceremony in full, a video was captured for the City of Asheville YouTube channel.