Memorial Day celebrated at Camp Nelson

JESSAMINE COUNTY, Ky. (WTVQ) – At a Memorial Day Ceremony at Camp Nelson National Cemetery, the National Anthem was performed, the color guard marched forward, and standing ovations were aplenty for speakers like Vietnam veteran Skip Kraemer.

“It’s likely that many of us Kentucky warriors carry both seen and unseen scars from that war. Perhaps it’s the fact that some of us returned home to a nation or a neighborhood that was unfriendly at best,” Kraemer told the crowd.

Kraemer got emotional talking about losing his friends in the war, and the years after coming home.

A flyover dazzled the crowd, as did Captain Walter Cox. The 96-year-old attorney’s story of the Battle of the Bulge in World War II, and his return home had everyone’s attention.

“I’d wake up at night thinking I was there again, sitting up in bed, screaming, hollering, it took me about five years to get over it,” said Cox.

A bell tolled each time a name was read of a fallen World War II veteran from Jessamine County.

The ceremony, a thank you very much appreciated by Navy veteran Latemus Marshall, delighted to see the large crowd.

“There’s a lot of people out here that are non service members, but they are our supports staff, we look at them that way. They are civilians, but they are out here for us as well, and I’m glad they did come out,” said Marshall.