Video: "Our Freedom Is Very, Very Costly. It Is Not Free"

Many wars and conflicts have passed in the last 143 years, but the meaning of what we now call Memorial Day is the same, Mayor Jane Seeman told a crowd gathered at the Vienna Town Green on Monday.

"It is just as important that we honor all of those who have lost their lives so that we may live in freedom," she said after quoting Maj. General John A. Logan, who first declared May 30 as Decoration Day in 1868.

The Town of Vienna held its annual Memorial Day Tribute , with several elected officials,  including U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly, Fairfax Board of Supervisors Chair Sharon Bulova, Del. Mark Keam, State Sen. Chap Petersen and members of the Vienna Town Council.

The ceremony's keynote speaker was Lt. Gen. Jeffrey W. Oster, retired United States Marine Corps, who served 35 years on active duty.

Oster reminisced about his early start in the Military; how he had little concept of the holiday's meaning compared to the emotion it holds in his heart after 48 years of service.

The legacy of courage, of love of country, of patriotism, of esprit de corps, reminds us that our freedom is very, very costly. It is not free," he said. "It reminds us that our beloved freedoms have been purchased with the blood and sacrifice of generations of patriots -- including, I might add, many from the Town of Vienna and the counties of Northern Virginia."

The Madison High School Madrigals performed "The Star Spangled Banner" and "America The Beautiful," and a Madison High School senior played taps on the trumpet. A local boy scout troop presented the colors.

Click on the media player in the viewer above for a glimpse of the ceremony.