An Ironton tradition will take place at the riverfront tonight – and deserves more than just a few lines in the newspaper or a minute or two on television.

Thursday, May 25, 2000

An Ironton tradition will take place at the riverfront tonight – and deserves more than just a few lines in the newspaper or a minute or two on television.

Navy Night is one of the first events that Lawrence County residents will take part in to begin the area’s annual Memorial Day Weekend celebration.

The event honors the men and women who lost their lives serving their country on the water. Included in this honored group is anyone who served aboard a ship or submarine.

Unless you have lost a son, husband, father or brother who served in the Navy, Coast Guard or other branch of the armed forces, you probably don’t realize how difficult holidays like Memorial Day can be.

Losing a loved one to an illness or accident is bad enough. Knowing a soldier perished in a jungle or in the ocean without his or her family is a difficult burden to bear.

Memorial Day celebrations don’t bring a loved one back, but there is some comfort in knowing a soldier’s country has not forgotten the sacrifice he or she has made.

Navy Night is a beautiful ceremony filled with music and culminating in a touching memorial service on the Ohio River. Attending won’t take up any more of your time than a television show, but will mean a lot to the families of those who gave their lives protecting their nation.

Come down to the riverbank tonight and help this community say thank you. Bring your children, too; it is never too early for them to learn that freedoms have a cost.

Maybe that will help them appreciate their country a little more when they are adults.

You really couldn’t make a better investment.