BUCHANAN, Va. – Lawrence Vines has seen a lot of Memorial Days.
The World War II veteran has lived in Buchanan since the war ended, and every year — without fail — he shows up to the same ceremony at American Legion Post 93. Monday was no different.
“This started right after the war, World War II,” Vines said. “And we’ve lived here ever since, and I think this is something we need for everybody to remember.”
He’s right that it started after the war. Seventy-nine years ago, to be exact.
What began in the years immediately following World War II has quietly grown into one of the community’s most enduring rituals. Each Memorial Day, the American Legion Post 93 gathers Buchanan together — veterans, families, neighbors, and newcomers alike — to stop and remember.
Daniel Garrett, the post’s chaplain and a veteran himself, has become one of the ceremony’s steadfast keepers. For him, it’s personal.
“As a veteran myself, I’m following in their footsteps,” Garrett said. “We have the country, the freedoms that we have in this country because of the very men and women who were willing to give up their life so that we could live in freedom.”
Garrett didn’t need many words to explain why he keeps showing up.
“We are remembering those who served and who passed away from that serving,” Garrett said. “As they say many times, all gave some, some gave all.”
Monday’s ceremony wasn’t just a moment of silence. It was a morning of storytelling.
Local artist David Austin provided the music. Col. Keith Gibson, executive director of the Virginia Military Institute Museum System, took the podium to make sure the names and stories of those lost from the community didn’t fade with time.
“When the nation called its sons and daughters to arms at those times, time and time again communities large and small all along the banks of the James responded,” Gibson said.
For Vines, the morning offers something else too — something harder to put into words but easy to understand.
“I just enjoy the camaraderie. I see some old friends I haven’t seen all year till I come out this time,” he said.
That’s what 79 years of showing up looks like. Not just duty. Not just tradition. But a town that keeps choosing, year after year, to come together and remember the people who made everything else possible.