SAN MARCOS, Texas -- Because large gatherings are still not encouraged due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, many cities opted for a virtual Memorial Day ceremony. This is something that didn’t quite sit right for one veteran in Hays County.

What You Need To Know


  • San Marcos Memorial Day ceremony canceled, replaced with virtual ceremony

  • One veteran showed up to pay respects at Hays County Veterans Memorial anyway

  • Found cancellation of in-person ceremony disrespectful 

“The whole virtual thing just kind of ticked me off. These people did not die in a virtual conflict," said the veteran, who wished to remain anonymous. “Our dead military personnel deserve more than a virtual thing.”

Instead of sitting at home waiting for the City of San Marcos to upload its virtual ceremony, the veteran was up at sunrise to visit the Hays County Veterans Memorial.

“Our dead military personnel deserve more than a virtual thing. What would it take — I’m here by myself, what would it take to have a small color guard? I think having a color guard from the local AMVETS and VFW would have been a nice little thing. I mean, what does take for me to come here for a little sunrise thing and - you know, it's a few minutes out of my day," he said.

While the city didn’t choose to recruit anyone for an official in person ceremony, the American Veterans Post Tx-104​ decided to pay respects in a ceremony of their own later in the day.

Spending some time talking about his fellow veterans in San Marcos, he mentioned feeling less than cared for by the city when it comes to getting resources.

"In a university town, veterans don't rank very high. Strangest oxymoron I could think of is, we have so many veterans going to Texas State University, we have a good sized community of veterans here in San Marcos, we don't have a clinic. There is no — any kind of help for veterans really within the community," he said. "They make it so hard for us. You have to commute either up into Austin or down into San Antonio to get any help. But yet, they're willing to dump millions of dollars into the university.​"

During his morning at the memorial, he slowly walked along the edge and paused every so often, standing to reflect on his time in the service and the sacrifice made by the people whose names were in front of him.

“My great-grandfather served, my grandfather served, my father served, I served,” he said. “I honestly really don't know any of these people. It's simply a fact that they are brothers and sisters in arms.”

Reading off a passage from a Gnostic mass titled "The End," he turned to spend a few more moments at the memorial, saluting one last time before heading home.

A marker indicates Hays County Veterans Memorial in this image from May 25, 2020. (Stacy Rickard/Spectrum News)