Residents, city officials remember soldiers who 'made the ultimate sacrifice' at Cherry Hill Memorial Day service

NEW JERSEY (KYW Newsradio) — It was a solemn Memorial Day service in Cherry Hill Monday as residents gathered to remember those who died defending our nation’s freedoms.

“As we stand before the township War Memorial, we remember with deep reverence the Cherry Hill soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice,” said Cherry Hill Mayor David Fleisher, who led the ceremony at the township’s War Memorial outside Town Hall.

The days leading up to Memorial Day are painful for keynote speaker and Camden County Commissioner Melinda Kane, whose son Jeremy was killed in Afghanistan.

“It’s a very tough day for me,” she said. “The month of May, like for many families of the fallen, it’s really difficult because we know what’s going to be happening later in the month.”

Once Memorial Day arrives, Kane says the support of the community helps her get through.

“It’s incredibly comforting. And this is what has sustained me for the last 14 years after Jeremy was killed in January of 2010.”

Kane recalled when her son said he wanted to join the Marines after Sept. 11.

“I had asked him, ‘What about going to Israel and joining the IDF and fighting for Israel?’ And his response was ‘That terrorism is global and it doesn’t make a difference, mom, we’re all fighting the same war against terrorism,’” she said.

During the ceremony, a bell was rung in memory of each of the Cherry Hill veterans who died in the last year. Local Boy Scouts placed a wreath at the memorial in honor of those residents killed from World War II to the Global War on Terrorism.