James Fales says there isn’t a day that goes by that he doesn’t think of his brother Adam and how proud he is that he made the ultimate sacrifice in service to his country.

James Fales fought back tears as he and his father Joe unveiled the new Iraqi and Afghani Freedom Monuments during Memorial Day services Saturday on the south lawn of the Cullman County Courthouse.

“I’m glad they’re holding something like this that pays tribute to Adam and all the soldiers that have fallen in Iraq and Afghanistan,” the young Fales said. “It means a lot to my family as I’m sure it does to the other families represented here today.”

In addition to Adam Fales, the new monument is inscribed with the names of Travis Nelson and Jonathan Smith.

Army Staff Sgt. Nelson and Marine Cpl. Fales were killed six days apart in two separate incidents in Iraq this past December.

A member of the 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division out of Fort Campbell, Ky., Nelson, 41, and a second soldier, Sgt. Kenneth Casica, 32, of Virginia Beach, Va., were killed by hostile fire at a checkpoint outside of Baghdad on Dec. 10 while in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Nelson was Cullman County’s first casualty of the war in Iraq.

Fales, 21, of Fairview, died as a result of an accidental gunshot wound in his barracks on Dec. 16 at Camp Fallujah. Fales was in the middle of a nine-month tour of duty in Iraq with Combat Support Detachment 21, 2nd Marine Logistics Group, II Marine Expeditionary Force. He was based at Cherry Point, N.C.

He was nearing the end of his four-year enlistment when the accident occurred.

Prior to Nelson’s death, the closest connection between the death of a U.S. soldier serving in Iraq and Cullman County was Lance Cpl. Jonathan Smith, 22, of the Oden Ridge community near Eva. Smith died in June 2005 when a roadside bomb exploded near Fallujah.

On Saturday, members of the Fales, Nelson and Smith families participated in the Memorial Day service and unveiling of the new monument which pays tribute to soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“It means a lot for Jonathan to be remembered in this way,” said his father, Gary Smith. “It’s not what we hoped for when he joined the Marines, but we’re proud of him more today than ever. We’re proud of all of our military men and women.”

Mike Nelson, brother of Travis Nelson, said he is pleased that the county now has a memorial that pays tribute to those soldiers who have paid the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“It means a lot to our family and to see so many people turn out today for this ceremony is just tremendous,” Nelson said. “Like the other families, we’re coping with the loss of Travis with the help from the community and our church. The support we’ve received has been overwhelming and much appreciated.”

A crowd estimated at close to 300 braved the near 90-degree heat to honor Cullman County’s war dead.

Following the presentation of the colors by Alabama Army National Guard members Staff Sgt. Scott Busey, Staff Sgt. Wayne Shedd, Private Samuel Patterson and Pvt. Nicholas Lindsey, all from Cullman, County Commission Chairman Wiley Kitchens welcomed the crowd and praised the efforts of local veterans organizations who joined in coordination of Saturday’s memorial service, including local chapters of the American Legion and the Military Order of the Purple Heart.

Major Gen. James H. Pillsbury, commander of the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command headquartered at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, motivated the crowd.

“My name is Pillsbury and I’m a soldier,” the general began. “And I’m proud to be a soldier, not because of what I have done, but because of what all of those who have come before me have done.”

Pillsbury told the crowd he could think of nowhere he would rather be in observance of Memorial Day than in Cullman County “to honor those whose names are displayed on the monuments behind me.”

“We’re at war. We have soldiers standing here who will be deployed to that war shortly. We have kids on their third and fourth rotations to Iraq and Afghanistan. We’re at war against those who want to kill you because you don’t believe in their god,” Pillsbury said. “Our civilian leadership tells the military what to do. They told us to go over there and do a mission. We’re doing that mission and we’re doing it very well.”

Other dignitaries attending Saturday’s ceremony were a number of local and state elected officials and candidates including Lt. Gov. Lucy Baxley who presented proclamations to members of the Fales, Nelson and Smith families.

Representatives of U.S. Congressman Robert Aderholt also spoke briefly and presented Kitchens with a flag which was flown over the U.S. Capitol on behalf of service men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Herman Reid, commander of Cullman American Legion Post 4, and George Mann, a member of the Military Order of the Purple Heart, expressed their gratitude to the families and those who made Saturday’s memorial service possible.

“I want to thank our neighbors and our brothers, the veterans groups in Cullman County, the community clubs and organizations, businesses and individuals who contributed so that we can unveil this monument today,” Mann said. “It’s a great honor for me to stand in front of the parents of our fallen heroes Jonathan L. Smith of Eva, Travis Nelson of West Point and Adam Fales of Fairview. This monument isn’t dedicated just to the wounded, but also to those who died in combat and received the purple heart posthumously.”

Quoting from the St. Crispen’s Day Speech in Shakespeare’s “Henry V,” Mann said, “We few, we happy few. We band of brothers, fore he today that sheds his blood with me is my brother.”