About 100 people gathered on a crisp Friday morning at the stone plaza of Oconee Hill Cemetery to remember the soldiers, sailors and marines who have fought and died for America.

One of them, 29-year-old Josh Darnell, a native of Oconee County and a UGA graduate, spoke about his U.S. Army service in Afghanistan. That service ended for him with a devestating injury from a suicide bomber and for two men under his command, with death. He asked those in attendance to remember not the deaths of those in uniform, but their lives.

The deaths of young men and women “are part of the endless cycle of war,” he said, and they have no meaning. What has meaning is their lives, which leave legacies of service and courage.

When one is a soldier, "the specter of loss haunts daily life," Darnell said. The knowledge of one's own mortality is a constant companion. Military officials routinely ask soldiers to update their life insurance policies, even if nothing has changed.

After being wounded, Darnell endured 18 operations to repair his destroyed right arm, which was supposed to be removed. A surgeon at Eisenhower Medical Center, at Fort Gordon, saved the arm, though it now has no elbow, Darnell said. He also spent more than seven months in the hospital before returning to the Athens area.

He's currently enrolled in the UGA School of Public and International Affairs, working on a master's degree in international relations. With a wife and an infant daughter, Darnell hopes to work for the state department or one of the intelligence agencies.

The Friends of Oconee Hill Cemetery were pleased by both the turnout at Friday's ceremony and the ceremony itself, which is the second time Veterans Day has been commemorated there. Board member Helen Mills, assisted by president Tom Wilfong and committee members, began planning the event in August. UGA spokesman Tom Jackson suggested that Mills contact Darnell, who is a childhood friend of Jackson's son Stan.