Photo By Petty Officer 1st Class Drace Wilson | NAVAL STATION ROTA, Spain (May 19, 2026) Master Chief Master-at-Arms Christopher...... read more read more
NAVAL STATION ROTA, Spain (May 19, 2026) - Cryptologic Technician (Collection) 2nd Class Aaron Billington. Master Chief Aerographer’s Mate William Elmers Jr. Sergeant Donald Tucker. Senior Airman Bryan McDonald. The seven crew members of the EA-3B Skywarrior from Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron Two. Every name listed can be found in a quiet part of the base, next to the chapel, on a memorial wall dedicated to the men and women of the U.S. armed forces who lost their lives while wearing the cloth of the nation. Every name was one of us: people who served their country and were stationed at the “The Gateway to the Mediterranean.”
The patio adjacent to the memorial played the perfect host for this year’s Memorial Day remembrance ceremony on May 19. As the bees buzzed through the nearby flowers and the leaves of the trees faintly rustled in that wonderfully cool southern Spanish breeze, U.S. and Spanish service members, civilians, and U.S. armed forces retirees joined together to honor America’s fallen. The beauty of the day beckoned all walks of life from Naval Station (NAVSTA) Rota to join together in memory.
The ceremony began with the instrumental Spanish “La Marcha Real,” followed by the sonorous voice of Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Aldoria Harper, assigned to Navy Medicine Readiness Training Command (NMRTC) Rota, singing “The Star-Spangled Banner.” After the final notes rang off the walls of the library and Fleet and Family Services building, the ceremony continued with the commemoration of the prisoner-ofwar/missing-in-action (POW/MIA) table, the playing of “Amazing Grace” on the bagpipes, and speeches by Retired Activities Officer Patricia Rios and Fire Department Assistant Chief Moises Colon. Each word spoken evoked the importance of Memorial Day in the American lexicon and the significance of annually revisiting the lengths to which many of our fallen heroes have gone to ensure our nation’s freedom.
“It is important to recognize Memorial Day each year because it offers us as individuals, and as a nation, an opportunity to pause and remember our fallen patriots.” said Rios. “It is also a way to teach the next generation that there is a human cost to freedom and remind them that it has taken many patriots to keep our country going these 250 years.”
To round out the event, Master Chief Master-at-Arms Christopher Chappell and Logistics Specialist 2nd Class Hiep Huynh laid a wreath at the memorial featuring a Kevlar helmet, M-4 rifle, and boots in the center of the plaza, another stark reminder of the repercussions of the loss of a shipmate. Amanda Gipson, the installation’s Jewish community leader and a retired Navy Career Counselor 1st Class, ended the ceremony by inviting each member of the audience to stack a small rock on the plaza’s memorial and sang the “Mourner’s Kaddish” prayer, both Jewish traditions to honor the dead.
All the while, those that came before us and gave their last full measure looked on, and, as the ceremony finished and people started to rise, the first group of service members took up the American and POW/ MIA flags and solemnly marched past both memorials toward the gymnasium track to commence the eight-hour Memorial Day remembrance walk, hosted by the USO.
When the flags pass by, one could consider it the changing of the watch. For 250 years, the men and women of our armed forces have stood the watch. All give some. And the ones that watch from that memorial wall? They gave all. What remains the constant is that we all are prepared to fight for our country and remain resolute in defending America’ independence and freedom. We have the watch, but they are watching.
| Date Taken: | 05.18.2026 |
| Date Posted: | 06.12.2026 04:39 |
| Story ID: | 567533 |
| Location: | ROTA, ES |
| Web Views: | 13 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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