Memorial Day at South Florida cemetery: Prayers, tears, pride

Memorial Day at South Florida cemetery: Prayers, tears, pride
By Susannah Bryan, Sun Sentinel
7:04 p.m. EDT, May 30, 2011

WEST LAKE WORTH—
A young veteran walked through the crowd at a national cemetery Monday and stopped at a wheelchair to shake the hand of World War II vet Rudy Warshawsky.

As a member of the U.S. Army's 101st Airborne Division, Warshawsky, 84, of Delray Beach, was one of many who stormed the beaches of Normandy on D-Day in 1944.

After sharing a few words with the young vet, the old man's eyes welled with tears.

"I don't go for all this hero business," he said. "I'm not a hero. The ones who didn't make it home are the heroes."

On Memorial Day, Warshawsky and nearly 500 patriotic Americans flocked to the South Florida National Cemetery, the region's only military cemetery and one of five in the state. They came to honor the nation's fallen heroes with prayers, pride and spirit.

"Today we all come together to remember those who gave the ultimate sacrifice so that we could be here today," said U.S. Rep. Allen West, R-Plantation, a retired Army lieutenant colonel. West urged the crowd gathered on the lawn before him to not forget the country's war dead – including 15 soldiers killed overseas in recent days.

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Memorial Day at South Florida cemetery