Hundreds of Manchester residents took time away from celebrating the traditional start of the summer season to remember the nation's war dead Monday.

Manchester's annual Memorial Day parade made its way down Elm Street at mid-afternoon. Onlookers ranged from senior citizens wearing emblems of their own service to children standing with their parents who applauded marching military veterans and representatives of active units.

The parade was followed by a ceremony at Veterans Park, where proceedings were paused at 3 p.m. as part of the national moment of remembrance for those who died in defense of the country.

Major Gen. William Reddel, adjutant general of the New Hampshire National Guard, noted that soldiers in his command are scheduled to return to Afghanistan in about 10 months.

“I need you to remember those who have gone before us, those who have paid the ultimate price,” Reddel said. “I need you to remember our patriots, our warriors of every generation who were cut short protecting our freedoms.”

Sen. Lou D'Allesandro of Manchester told how he still thinks of the death of Marine Lance Cpl. Frank Sharek of Manchester, who was killed in Quang Nam Province, South Vietnam.

D'Allesandro taught Sharek at Bishop Bradley High School more than four decades ago.

“I say to myself, 'Here's a young man who could have been anything he wanted to be, but he went into the service and lost his life so that all of us could be here today,'” D'Allesandro said.

The featured guest speaker, retired Naval Cmdr. Becky Vinson, now a resident of Pembroke, recalled her stint in the communications center at the Pentagon, where she made sure that a chaplain visited families of sailors who had died.

Vinson, who married a naval officer, spoke of her own son who served with the Navy in Iraq.

The experience, she said, made her dread going home from work for fear of seeing the white Navy chaplain's car waiting for her.

“That's the very seriousness of the family pain that so many families are going through,” she said. “I am so proud to be in a country that honors that and doesn't forget.”