Former Kentucky Adjutant General Donald Storm was the voice of Memorial Day in Laurel County this weekend, speaking to crowds about the importance of core values.

At Locust Grove Cemetery in Keavy Sunday and on the Laurel County Courthouse steps Monday, Storm addressed the importance of the sacrifice soldiers make.

“They go to war and they come home in coffins, buried beneath markers and monuments in resting places from Alaska to Florida, from Maine to Hawaii,” he said. “Often times, they’re laid to rest in foreign lands, covered by the very soil they fought to protect.”

“The nation stops today to remember all of those making the ultimate sacrifice — to preserve and protect the American way of life,” he continued. “And American freedom and values ... Be proud of these freedoms and values.”

Storm said those values are founded in the United States Constitution and are “just as important today as they were 233 years ago.”

Storm added, in difficult economic times, they are even more apt, and it remains even more important to rely on the values of loyalty, duty, responsibility, selfless service, honor, integrity and moral courage.

“They’re the basic core values that’s developed the greatest country on the face of the earth,” Storm said. Never let anyone take that away from you.”

Storm said, since the country was founded, Americans have died in 85 wars and “assorted military action.” He listed the wars that resulted in the most deaths, including the Revolutionary War (25,324 deaths), the Civil War (618,022), World War I (116,708), World War II (408,306), the Korean War (36,568), the Vietnam War (58,204), the Persian Gulf War (374) and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq (4,500).

“Collectively, we are the force for good all around the world,” Storm said. “Never let anyone tell you any different ... Don’t be ashamed but, today, be proud. Be proud of our history and be proud of our constitution.”

Priorities of that constitution, Storm said, are God, family and country.

“It’s all about these values and principles,” he said. “I take pride in making this statement: In my world, this constitution was based and developed around a sovereign God.”

Storm ended by underscoring the greatness of the area.

“You’re from the greatest place from the greatest state in the world,” he said. “There’s no better than here in Laurel County ... It got there because of this sacrifice ... It was a privilege and an honor to serve 37-plus years in the U.S. Military, but it is a privilege and an honor to be from Laurel County.”

Staff writer Tara Kaprowy can be reached by e-mail at tkaprowy@sentinel-echo.com.