Gold Star families honor the nation's fallen along Riverwalk in downtown Tampa

TAMPA, Fla. - Nearly two dozen Gold Star families gathered at MacDill Park along Tampa's Riverwalk to honor the nation's fallen. 

Rosanna Powers, whose brother and fiancé were both killed in Iraq just a single day apart in 2004, was among those at the park on Monday. To her, Memorial Day is a time to honor her loved ones, and the sacrifice they gave for their country.

"They were young they had their whole lives ahead of them they went to war and didn’t come home," Powers said. "That’s Memorial Day to me."

Vice Admiral James Malloy, the deputy director for US Central Command on MacDill Air Force Base, said the Riverwalk memorial serves as a reminder of the freedom and opportunity secured by departed heroes. 

MORE: Bay Pines National Cemetery holds first in-person Memorial Day ceremony since 2019

"From the moment they raise their right hand to serve to the moment they fell asleep in God’s hands they keep America’s ideals alive," Malloy said. 

It's the same ideals, Powers' brother and fiancé believed in and gave their last breaths fighting to defend. 

"Take a moment to pause and reflect and remember the sacrifices of those men and women that went to war and come home, they don’t have," Powers said.