MIMS, Fla. – Cape Canaveral National Cemetery hosted its annual Memorial Day ceremony Monday honoring local veterans and their families who attended the somber event.
“Today we gather in pause to remember those who have died securing our peace and our freedom as our express our remembrance of and our respect for the greatest of our nation’s heroes – those who made the ultimate sacrifice,” Don Murphy said.
One of the families traveling to the event was Brandi Pinciotti’s from Oviedo.
Brandi’s husband, Billy, died just last year following complications to his service in Afghanistan.
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“Every day is Memorial Day for us pretty much, but to be here, we kind of have like more sense of peace out here,” Brandi Pinciotti said.
The widow brought her two young children with her to the ceremony.
She said it felt like her husband was with them and she also told News 6′s James Sparvero about the stories she tells her children about their father.
“Just about his bravery and the impact he had, like just a true, all-American hero,” Brandi Pinciotti said.
She also reflected on having a new, extended family of other veterans and military family members.
“The family that we grew after all of this has been amazing,” Brandi Pinciotti said. “They all just immediately became family and take care of us.”
The VA says 4 million American veterans are buried in national cemeteries dating back to the Revolutionary War.
In 2021, News 6 anchor Matt Austin and photojournalist Paul Giorgio featured a group of volunteers at the cemetery who won the Getting Results Award for trying to attend every funeral.
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