Kent County's veterans were out in force in downtown Dover on Monday for a Memorial Day roll call of their fallen comrades.
Hundreds gathered to hear the 256 names of deceased Delaware veterans honored with a 21-gun salute and the playing of taps.
The annual ceremony was one of more than a dozen around the state this weekend.
Delaware's senior senator Tom Carper, a Vietnam Veteran, was on hand to pay tribute to those who've died defending the nation.
"For a lot of folks, Memorial Day is going to the beach, going to the pool, having picnics and barbeques, going shopping, going to a ballgame," said Carper. "And I think it's important for us to remember that one of the reasons we have the rights and the privilege of doing all those things is because we live in a free country."
Carper led the crowd in reciting the preamble to the U.S. Constitution during his speech, and thanked the uniformed veterans and their families lining the streets for their service.
Vivian Starnes was one of those veterans. She said she spent 20 years in the Army National Guard, and is now part of the Disabled American Veterans auxiliary service.
Starnes said that for her, Memorial Day is about thanking living veterans as well as those who've died: "honoring the soldiers -- ladies and the men -- for the outstanding job they did before they lost their lives," she said.
"And it's very important that I serve in Auxiliary Disabled American Veterans to do things to make all the disabled veterans' lives more comfortable -- easier," she said.
As part of that, she said she volunteers at the V.A. hospital in Elsmere.
Starnes' group was one of many represented at the ceremony, which began in the late 1940s. It was led by Dover's American Legion post this year.