TIFTON — If there was one message Master Sergeant (Ret.) Aulton White II wanted people to take away from the speech he gave on Memorial Day, it was that the day is meant to remember and honor the sacrifice of the thousands of men and women who gave their lives in service to the country.

White was the keynote speaker at the annual Memorial Day ceremony and wreath laying sponsored by the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) Chapter 38, Tifton. The ceremony took place at the Tifton Municipal Courtroom on May 28.

He said that Memorial Day is not a holiday, but a day of remembrance.

“I try not to use the word holiday or celebration,” White said. “It’s about the holes that are left behind. It’s not about veterans. It’s about those who gave their life so we can have the freedoms we have.”

He added that part of the problem is that 7 percent of the population have served in the military and that if people aren’t directly affected by losing someone in military service, they think it’s just another holiday.

“This one day of the year we are asked to stop and reflect on the sacrifices of those who paid the ultimate price in service to our nation,” White said. “We’re here today to honor the heroes, to remember their achievements, their dedication and their courage and to honor them for their sacrifices.”

He evoked the imagery of untrained militiamen starving at Valley Forge, scared young doughboys crouching in muddy trenches throughout Europe during World War I, the hardships of Korea and Vietnam and patrolling in Afghanistan, Iraq and Africa.

“We mourned our brothers and sisters in arms the day they left us and we have to mourn them now,” White said. “Men and women who have given their lives in service to this nation are indisputably our heroes.”

He said that while the service members being remembered came from all walks of life, stretching from the Revolutionary War to the most recent conflicts, they all shared the qualities of courage, pride, determination, selflessness, dedication to duty and integrity.

“Many of them didn’t ask to leave their homes to fight on distant battlefields,” White said. “Many didn’t even volunteer. They didn’t go to war because they love fighting. They were called to serve something greater than themselves.”

He said that it is admirable that, in a country where a small proportion of the population chooses to serve in the military, “each took it upon themselves to serve faithfully and to the fullest.”

White also reminded those present about the 82,000 military personnel who are still deemed missing in action from every conflict since World War II.

“We must ensure that these individuals are never forgotten,” he said. “It’s because of those who stood on that wall for us and gave for us that we have the right and freedom to be here.”

White and others were adamant that Americans need to remember the true meaning on the observance.

“Memorial Day is not national car sale day or mattress sale day,” White said. “It’s also not barbecue day or the unofficial start of summer. Memorial Day is and has always been the one day of the year we are to remember, honor and reflect upon those who have died in war.”

White said that the country is “perilously close” to forgetting what Memorial Day is supposed to be about.

“They just know it’s a day off where they can go barbecue,” he said. “With each passing year and subsequent conflicts we add more names to many monuments, highways and buildings. But nothing can replace the hole that is felt behind by a fallen service member, and no number of medals or ribbons can comfort the ones left behind.”

White urged attendees to remind any retailer that is promoting products “on the graves of our fallen” what the observance is about.

“Don’t promote Memorial Day as a sale day,” he said. “Let people know it’s remembrance of those who died for us. This one day of the year, try to make it special.”

After the ceremony, a motorcade traveled to Oakridge Cemetery to lay a wreath at the flagpole.

Members of the DAV, family members of service members who died in past and current conflicts and city officials were at the wreath laying.

White put the flag at half-mast and all past and current service members saluted while taps, the military call for “lights out,” was played.

After the wreath laying, many of the attendees walked the short distance to the grave of Tifton’s Medal of Honor recipient Harold B. “Pinky” Durham, Jr.

John Harbin, a member of the DAV, was at the memorial and shared some of Durham’s story of sacrifice and bravery in the face of death, and the sacrifice he made so his fellow soldiers could live.

“Everyone who gives their life (in service to the country) shines,” Harbin said. “He just happened to be a star that day.”

Follow Eve Copeland on Twitter @EveCopelandTTG.