There is strength in our nation’s unity, speakers at Rochester’s Memorial Day service said. On Sunday afternoon, soldiers who sacrificed their lives for that unity were remembered.

State Rep. William Straus (D-Mattapoisett) said it was appropriate that the ceremonies ended at the Civil War monument in front of Town Hall. Memorial Day was founded to honor those who died in the Civil War.

“Those names, of families whose names may be unfamiliar to us today, changed their lives to go fight for the idea of one united country,” Straus said.

The burden of those soldiers is similar to the one carried by the men and women who currently serve in the military, he noted.

“For those who left Rochester to fight in Virginia, and other parts of the south, it was as much a dislocation as it is for those who go to fight overseas today,” Straus said. “The idea that we are one United States is important and they proved that.”

To honor their memory, Board of Selectmen members Brad Morse, Richard Nunes, and Chair Naida Parker read the names of Rochester's fallen soldiers.

Straus and the Selectmen led the brief parade that began at Town Hall and paused at Daggett Square before ending at Town Hall. Marchers included, the Rochester Memorial School band’s fifth and sixth grade students, the town’s Scout troops, Fire Department members, and representatives from the New Bedford Reserve Officers' Training Corps, among others.

Pastor Glenn Stone, of Rochester’s First Congregational Church, led those gathered in a prayer of protection for soldiers who serve now. He also offered a prayer of thanks for those who have died.

He reminded the crowd that, as a nation, we have a duty to safeguard the freedoms won by those who gave their lives.

“We have a trust to preserve,” Stone said. “We thank God for every single man whose name was read here today.”

In a nod to the emergency and medical personnel and law enforcement officers who responded to the Boston Marathon Bombing, Straus asked the crowd to remember their actions on that day as well.