Strong gusts of wind and bitterly cold temperatures helped mark the somber attitude at the Bayview Cemetery Veterans Day memorial on Tuesday.

About 50 people huddled together along the pathway at the cemetery to remember the United States of America’s armed service members. Many of the gravestones at the cemetery were marked with a small U.S. flag, denoting a deceased veteran. Retired Lt. Col. Dave Sullivan of Oak Harbor, a member of the Major Megan McClung Whidbey Island Marine Corps League Detachment 1210, said the flags were placed by the Whidbey Island chapter of the Military Officers Association of America at cemeteries between Langley and Anacortes.

“Most of the graves are veterans,” said Herb Weissblum of Freeland, a former Army airman and member of the Major Megan McClung Detachment.

The ceremony was marked with a moment of silence, a prayer, a poem, a pair of speeches by veterans and the bugling of “Taps.” American Legion Poppy Girl Krista Dreschel read the war poem, “In Flanders Fields.” Pastor Darrell Wenzek, chaplain at the Bayview American Legion Post 141, prayed that people remember that soldiers often “promote peace” and stand against aggression.

Grethe Cammermeyer, a retired Army nurse and current Whidbey General Hospital board commissioner, spoke about the change in attitude toward the armed services over the past several decades. She noted that the World War II veterans were welcomed home as heroes and are often referred to as the last great generation. When other U.S. soldiers came home from the Vietnam War, she said, they were “being spat upon, rejected.” After moments like that, remembrances such as the Bayview memorial on Veterans Day were important to support troops.

“We have learned the cost of war and sacrifices of service members, so that never again are they not recognized or appreciated,” Cammermeyer said.

“It is more than just putting on a uniform,” she added, noting that any service member during war may experience a transformative trauma, and that they will need the support of their friends, family and the nation through organizations such as the Veterans Affairs Administration and the more local Whidbey Veterans Resource Center.