The congregation of Solid Rock Baptist Church on Old Powderhouse Road observed Memorial Day with a special service filled with patriotic music on Sunday.
A color guard made up of Pelion High School JROTC cadets presented the American flag while church members and guests recited the Pledge of Allegiance, and retired Navy Cmdr. Leslie Hull-Ryde read a poem called "My Name is Old Glory."
There also was a PowerPoint presentation that showed photographs of fallen service members with ties to Solid Rock.
Even though Memorial Day isn't a religious holiday, observing it in a house of worship is appropriate, said Solid Rock's lead pastor, Dr. Steven Drawdy, because the willingness of soldiers to make the ultimate sacrifice "has given us the freedom to be able to stand in this room and proclaim the love of Jesus without fear of being thrown into a jail or a prison."
Rich Nolan, who died earlier this year, always made sure that Solid Rock "had a special time for Memorial Day" in the past, according to Drawdy, but this year's event was the biggest and most elaborate that the pastor could remember.
The enthusiasm of Hull-Ryde, Drawdy said, was responsible for the expansion. A public affairs officer based in Washington, D.C., Hull-Ryde had recently left the Navy and was eager to help fill the void created by Nolan's death.
"She wanted to take what we had done and go forward with it; and I, of course, was all for that," Drawdy said.
Solid Rock's sanctuary was decorated with small United States flags and a big red, white and blue wreath. There was an arrangement of red, white and blue flowers on top of the piano, and on a table in front of the pulpit were two pairs of military boots and a folded American flag in a case.
In addition, next to the pulpit was a prisoners of war/missing in action table. Hull-Ryde explained the significance of the display and each item in it, including the white tablecloth, black napkin, red rose, yellow ribbon and wine glass turned upside down.
"I thought it was important to continue to honor those who have fallen and to continue to educate our youth who think that Memorial Day is basically just the beginning of summer, so I worked with Mr. Steve Creswell to do this," said Hull-Ryde, who was co-director of this year's Aiken Memorial Day Parade on May 23.
Dede Biles is a general assignment reporter for the Aiken Standard and has been with the newspaper since January 2013.