VFW Post 224 conducted a Memorial Day ceremony Monday morning at Fern Hill Cemetery in Aberdeen.

Fern Hill and the Aberdeen Cemetery Association usually host a large annual event at Fern Hill’s Veterans Memorial, with many Grays Harbor veterans and civic organizations participating. But it was canceled this year because of statewide coronavirus precautions.

“Regardless of the lockdown, we … could not allow that our many departed comrades not be commemorated,” said VFW Post Commander Anthony Magri. “We are all in their debt because our flag still flies over the land of the free.”

About 17 people attended, spreading out to maintain social distancing. Magri opened with a reading of “In Flanders Fields,” a poem long associated with Memorial Day. Magri and Auxiliary President Joann Wadsworth placed the memorial wreath. Chaplain Jim Daly offered a prayer, and Rob Hoeffer presented “Taps.”