The rain may have prevented the Memorial Day parade, but it didn’t dampen Marion residents’ spirits.

Keynote speaker Lt. Col. Heather Benz of the Air Force, a Marion resident, addressed a packed multi-purpose room at Sippican School on Monday morning.

“Thank you for being a town that can pull something off like this,” she said of the turnout.

Benz, currently working as a JetBlue pilot, said Memorial Day is always an occasion that causes her to think about freedom.

“What does it mean to be free?” she asked. “It’s hard to define what it means to be free without understanding what it means to not be free.”

Benz pointed out that every day United States citizens get to wake up and make choices, and she thinks appreciating that and those who make that possible is what the holiday is all about it.

“People are giving their lives for us to be free – for America to be free,” Benz said. “Look at your day and see that you can do whatever you want. I want you to remember that you’re free.”

The ceremony also included patriotic performances by the Sippican School Band, the Portuguese American Band and bagpiper Raquel MacFarlane.

Old Rochester Regional High School student Jack Roussell recited In Flander’s Field, while ORR Junior High student Sean Lolly read the declaration of the holiday from the governor’s office.

The ceremony concluded with the three selectmen, Jody Dickerson, Steve Gonsalves and Norm Hills, laying a wreath in memory of those who were killed in action.