Jim Barry led the Boston Police Department’s Gaelic Column into Cedar Grove Cemetery on Monday for the traditional Memorial Day ceremonies. Bill Forry photo

“The Americans who rest beneath these beautiful hills and in sacred ground across our country and around the world, they are why our nation endures. Each simple stone marker arranged in perfect military precision signifies the cost of our blessings. It is a debt we can never fully repay. But it is a debt we’ll never stop trying to fully repay, by remaining a nation worthy of their sacrifice, by living our own lives the way the fallen lived theirs.”

– President Obama at Arlington National Cemetery, May 25, 2015