Members of the Alaska Department of Military and Veterans Affairs served as integral parts of the “Anchorage Remembers” Memorial Day Ceremony May 25, 2026, at the Delaney Park Strip Veterans Memorial.
Alaska Air National Guard Col. Matthew Kirby, 176th Mission Support Group commander, delivered the keynote speech, and Alaska Army National Guard Command Sgt. Maj. Benjamin Hankins, 1st Battalion, 297th Infantry Regiment senior enlisted leader, served as the master of ceremonies.
Cadets of the Alaska Military Youth Academy provided critical support for setup and teardown for the ceremony.
Kirby, a career combat rescue officer and former commander of the 212th Rescue Squadron, grounded his speech in the rescue of “Dude 44,” the callsign for the F-15E Strike Eagle pilot and weapon systems officer downed in Iran.
Kirby explained how U.S. Air Force combat search and rescue crews risk their lives to carry out the unspoken contract they have with isolated U.S. and allied air crew: that no one is left behind.
“The rescuers never ask whether the mission is convenient,” Kirby said. “They never ask is it too dangerous. They only ask whether someone needs them.
“I think there is something deeply meaningful about connecting rescue culture with Memorial Day because at its core, military service has always been about rescue” Kirby continued. “Rescuing liberty from tyranny. Rescuing hope from fear. Rescuing innocent people from violence. Rescuing future generations from oppression. The men and women we honor today were rescuers in the broadest and most important sense of the word.”
Kirby said three values bind those who asked to be sent into harm’s way and who made the ultimate sacrifice: faith, freedom and family.
“Faith in our country is what carried Soldiers through frozen forests in the Battle of the Bulge,” he said. “Faith is what sustained Marines on Pacific islands surrounded by chaos. Faith does not always mean certainty. Faith requires hope and a strong belief that we will prevail.”
Kirby said the next value, freedom, was denied for the crew of Dude 44 when they were isolated behind enemy lines.
“Sometimes, you do not realize how precious something is until it is taken away from you,” Kirby said. “In an instant, those pilots had their freedom taken away from them as they evaded the enemy in enemy terrain. But America stood watch. American warriors were ready to launch and save those pilots, preserving the freedom we all hold so dear.”
Kirby said family is a sacred cornerstone of American society where values are formed, which are critical for honorable military service. He said families share great burdens when their service member deploys overseas.
The burden is greatest for Gold Star families who lost loved troops.
“[Gold Star families] understand loss – permanent loss,” Kirby said, his voice cracking with emotion. “Today, somewhere in America, a Gold Star mother still keeps a bedroom exactly the way it was. A father still replays the last conversation. A spouse still reaches across an empty bed. A child still wonders what life would have been like if mom or dad had come home. The pain does not disappear because time passes.”
Kirby said remembering fallen service members isn’t a meaningless ritual observed once a year. He said it’s incumbent on every American to remember their spirit and to work together to preserve freedom for following generations.
“That is why Memorial Day matters: because remembrance creates responsibility,” he said. “If we remember what they gave, then we must live worthy of it. Not perfectly, but honorably. The fallen understood that. They did not fight because America was perfect. They fought because America was worth believing in, worth preserving, worth defending, worth sacrificing for, and today, we inherit that legacy.”