Buchanan American Legion Post 93 held its annual Memorial Day Service at the pavilion overlooking Fairview Cemetery where small American Flags and Confederate Flags waved in the sunny breeze at dozens of gravesites Monday.

Molly Austin and her father David provided music for the occasion. At right, Post member Lawrence Vines of Buchanan salutes while the Botetourt Sheriff’s Department Honor Guard handled the colors for the service. The Post’s first female commander, Sarah Ware, welcomed the community. Col. David Coggins, was guest speaker. The Commanding Officer for the Naval ROTC at VMI in Lexington talked about one of Buchanan’s own, the late author Mary Johnston who wrote “The Long Roll” and its sequel, “Cease Firing,” both Civil War novels written in the early part of the 20th Century. Sometimes it seems war is romanticized, Coggins said. “It’s about fighting, dying and bleeding out in the sand…. War is frantic and messy, but it’s a reality and necessary.” He said the Memorial Day Service was to commemorate the soldiers who had died, and he he urged the audience when “Taps” was played to think about a father, brother, son, mother or a boy down the street “you may not have known very well.”

Photos by Ed McCoy