Milton Celebrates Memorial Day, Remembers Fallen Vets

Retired U.S. Army Col. Michael D. Steele and sixth grade student Byron Lee of Hopewell Middle School both shared a message about the price some soldiers pay to keep the rest of the nation free.

Steele is a Georgia native whose Ranger company deployed to Mogadishu, Somalia, and got caught defending themselves from thousands of armed insurgents. The battle was the basis for the movie, "Black Hawk Down."

Lee won a Memorial Day Essay Contest with the theme, "Freedom isn't Free," and read his winning work to the lage crowd overflowing a tent set up for the ceremony.

The event included a roll call of fallen veterans, whose names also are marked on crosses made by Milton Councilman Bill Lusk and erected along Deerfield Parkway and in Crabapple.