Under the shade of an old oak tree in the Clark County Cemetery, family, service members and fellow Clark Countians arrived to pay respect to Harold Epperson.

While Mayor Ed Burtner opened the ceremony with prayer, behind him, with heads bowed, Steve Roy and Don Rose held the American and Marine Corps flags.

“The reason for this event is to never forget,” Burtner said, addressing the audience during the annual memorial service for Epperson, the only Medal of Honor recipient in the Winchester cemetery.

Epperson received the Medal of Honor after sacrificing his life to save his comrades when he jumped on a live grenade thrown into their midst by an enemy soldier.

“He gave the last full measure,” Burtner said. “It’s the kind of thing you think someone might do, that Harrold did.”

Attending the ceremony was Epperson’s older sister Ruth Nickell, now 98-years-old. She was the oldest sibling of six, Epperson was third in the family and first of two boys.

Fighting back emotion, Nickell said being at the memorial service brought back wonderful memories as well as bad ones.

“There’s nothing that puts tears in my eyes quicker than Taps,” Nickell said, “I love Taps.”

She said Epperson was a great and wonderful boy who never got to come back home after going overseas.

“When he left that last day, I was teaching school. I come home to see him, but we never saw him again,” Nickell said with a subtle crack in her voice, still holding back tears. “That was the thing I always regretted was that our family never got to see him again after he left.”

The Harold Epperson Memorial Service is held every year on June 25 at 11 a.m. to commemorate the day and hour he died.

Bringing the service to a close, Dave Sublette played Taps before Burtner closed with prayer,

“We pray for all of our soldiers, here or wherever they may be,” Burtner said.