Posted Mon, 2009-05-25 16:32
.jpg)
NSBNEWS.net photos by Henry Frederick. At left, Alan Ayoubee, district 19 commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4250 and a Vietnam veteran, proudly holds the American Flag at a Memorial Day Ceremony at Riverside Park In New Smyrna Beach. Among the 150 in attendance were Mayor Sally Mackay, who addressed the gathering, and Vice 
Mayor Jack Grasty, also a Vietnam War veteran stationed in Thailand in 1969, at right.
NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Alan Ayoubee served in the Vietnam War, but he's particularly partial to World War II on this Memorial Day. That's because his father, Raymond, who died three years ago, served in that war.
Ayoubee, district 19 commander of the VFW Post 4250 said the chief difference between Veterans Day and Memorial Day as that this one honors the fallen exclusively.
"It's probably the most sacred of the military holiday," said Ayoubee, who was stationed in Pleiku in Vietnam's Central Highlands from 1968-'69.
With the passage of time, many veterans are dying, he said, pointing out that "we're losing 2,000 WW II veterans every day. They're our heroes. They went from the Depression into war where they reached their manhood. They didn't have a chance to realize their youth." Ayoubee said he's aware of only one surviving soldier left from World War I who lives in Virginia. "He's got to be well over a hundred," he said.