Memorial Day 2013: Remembering the fallen

With tears in her eyes, Mary Sue Davis touches a plaque honoring her father, a World War II veteran, at the Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial in San Diego.  (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

At the Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial in San Diego, plaques honoring former SEAL members Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty are unveiled.   (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

At the Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial in San Diego, Korean War veteran Chuck Burges and his wife, Sue, are among veterans honoring two former SEALs who were killed during the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.   (Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times)

The 40th Infantry Division Band of the California Army National Guard plays “Taps” during the Canoga Park Memorial Day Parade.   (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)

People carry a giant U.S. flag in a Memorial Day parade in Washington.  (Nicholas Kamm, AFP/Getty Images)

At Riverside National Cemetery, National Guard Sgt. Eric Hille, 33, of Murrieta, sits at the grave of his friend Sgt. Eric Holke, who was killed by a roadside bomb while they were both on the same mission in Iraq in 2007. Now an engineer with Cal Fire, Hille walked 13 miles in full military gear from the Moreno Valley station to the cemetery to honor his fallen friend.  (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

National Guard Sgt. Eric Hille, 33, mourns his friend, Sgt. Eric Holke, at Riverside National Cemetery.   (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

A couple photograph themselves amongst a sea of flags on Boston Common in Boston. The flags were placed by the Massachusetts Military Heroes Fund in memory of every fallen Massachusetts service member from the Civil War to the present.   (Michael Dwyer / Associated Press)

David Zernik, of Oceanside, plays a Beatles song on the guitar to pay respects while visiting the Los Angeles National Cemetery in Westwood.  (Christina House / For The Times)

A visitor walks through the Los Angeles National Cemetery in Westwood.  (Christina House / For The Times)

Motorcyclists cross the National Mall during Rolling Thunder 2013 in Washington. The 26th Annual Rolling Thunder rumbled into he U.S. capital to show support for veterans and those who have fallen in past and present wars. About 1 million riders were expected the Memorial Day weekend.   (Mladen Antonov / AFP/Getty Images)

Peggy Nilson of Banning looks for the name of her husband, Fred Nilson, at the Columbarium at Riverside National Cemetery. They were married for 51 years.  (Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Andy Vizcaino, left, and Winston Bromhead race to help place flags on graves at Pierce Bros. Valhalla Memorial Park in North Hollywood as part of the cemetery’s “flag laying” ceremony.  (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

At a Memorial Day ceremony at cemetery in Canton, Ga., Josh Thomson of Florence, Ala., holds the dog tags of a friend, U.S Army Ranger Cpl. Andrew Forest Chris, who died at age 27 while on deployment in Iraq in 2003.  (David Goldman / Associated Press)

Visitors crowd the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington as the country marks Memorial Day weekend.  (Nicholas Kamm / AFP/Getty Images)

Matthew Gray, 7, pays his respects after placing flags on graves of veterans for Memorial Day at the Knoxville National Cemetery in Knoxville, Tenn.  (Wade Payne / Associated Press)

Rows of U.S. flags frame the moon above the Brig. Gen. William C. Doyle Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Wrightstown, N.J.  (Mel Evans / Associated Press)

Boy Scout Parker Young places an American flag on the grave of a veteran buried at Moore Cemetery in Moore, Okla. The cemetery sits next to a neighborhood destroyed by a tornado last week.   (Tom Pennington / Getty Images)

Austin Barber, 2, helps his father, Stacy Barber, place flags on the gravestones of veterans at Evergreen Memorial Cemetery in Athens, Ga.  (Richard Hamm / Associated Press)

Members of the Patriot Guard Riders of Kentucky during a memorial service at Owensboro Memorial Gardens in Owensboro, Ky.  (Gary Emord-Netzley / Associated Press)