Some 300 Tracy-area residents who attended today’s Memorial Day service at Tracy Cemetery were urged to continue their support of American forces engaged in the ongoing war on terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The principal speaker, retired U. S. Army Col. Bob Elliott, noted that eight servicemen from Tracy have lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan and that thousands of men and women in the armed forces remain engaged in “the global war on terror.”

“I urge you to reject the use of euphemisms used by some in Washington, such as ‘overseas contingency operations.’ They are at war, fully engaged on the front lines in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

Elliott asked those in the audience to keep Americans in the combat zones “in your thoughts and prayers, particularly on Memorial Day.”

Following his talk, representatives of veterans organizations and community groups, ranging from mothers of servicemen to Cub Scouts, placed wreaths on a symbolic Tomb of the Unknown.

An honor guard composed of Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion members then fired three volleys from their M-1 rifles, and trumpeter Greg Wright of the Tracy Community Band sounded taps to conclude the program.

A short time later, a wreath was placed on the Tracy War Memorial in the Tracy Civic Center by veterans of wars in which U.S. forces have been engaged.