The event at Memorial Plaza, marked by the solemn sounds of bagpipes, offered families a moment to reflect and connect with others who share their loss.
"The Army says they don't forget and they don't leave anybody behind and they mean that," said Linda Carroll, whose husband, 1st Lt. Russell Edward Upright, died in Vietnam at age 23.
Carroll, who wears her husband's picture close to her heart, described him as "regal" and ambitious. "Some of his troops got cut off. He went out to save them, and he got caught in the crossfire," she recalled.
Fifty-seven years after Upright's death, his name, along with 1,246 others dating to the Korean War, remains etched on the Memorial Plaza wall.
Among those honored was Spc. John Pelham, killed by small-arms fire during his first deployment to Afghanistan in 2014. His parents traveled more than 2,300 miles to pay tribute.
"Our son John was killed in Afghanistan while serving with the third Special Forces Group in 2014. And every year we can come out to Memorial Week so we can honor his life and the lives of the other," his father, Wendall Pelham, said. "It's a different return home than it has been. And the wonderment of it is that I get that opportunity to share my son's story at a national cemetery with other Gold Star families and other survivors of the different wars that we've had for their veterans and loved ones to be buried there."
The wall's names start in 1952, marking the establishment of the Psychological Warfare Center, "the longest running command that has a direct, direct connection to the U.S. Army Special Operations Command," said Dr. Jared Tracy, deputy command historian.
For families like the Carrolls and Pelhams, the ceremony is more than a formality; it is a chance for profound remembrance.
"It gives me great comfort in knowing there's a permanency on this wall that will always be there for other people who didn't know him or the other fallen heroes on this wall to remember," Carroll said.
Pelham encouraged others to pause and reflect:
"Still go do a hotdog and a hamburger and still drink the beer or drink the wine or drink the water, whatever you want to do, just take a nanosecond or a minute or two and reflect on why we as Americans have an armed services and what we owe them," he said.