Vietnam War veteran J. Charles Plumb, a retired captain from the U.S. Navy Reserve, described the difficulties of being a soldier and slogging through deserts or water, or being shot out of the sky.

“But you know what’s worse than all of this? You know what’s worse than the pain and the hunger and the stuff that we veterans go through? Worse than all of that? It’s being forgotten,” Plumb told the crowd during Monday’s Memorial Day ceremony at the Santa Barbara Cemetery.

Plumb said he spent six years as a prisoner of war in a Vietnamese prison.

Years after Plumb was released, he met a fellow veteran in a restaurant who told Plumb he had packed his parachute before he was shot down. Plumb admitted that he felt guilty that he did not know the man during their time in the service, but took it as a lesson to keep serving others and continue the legacy of veterans who died.

He then encouraged the crowd to do their part in remembering them as well.

“Keep it up, patriots. Keep saluting the flag, keep singing songs, keep packing parachutes,” Plumb said.

The Pierre Claeyssens Veterans Foundation and the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States hosted the Santa Barbara Memorial Day ceremony.

Hundreds of people gathered to honor fallen veterans with music, speeches and songs.

Lt. John Blankenship of the U.S. Navy served as the emcee.

The Prime Time Band, the Santa Barbara Choral Society and the Gold Coast Pipe Band performed the music for the event.

Memorial Day ceremonies were held throughout the county on Monday, including Santa Barbara, Goleta, Carpinteria, Santa Maria, Orcutt, Guadalupe, Lompoc, Los Alamos, Solvang and the Santa Ynez Valley.

Click here for coverage of the Goleta ceremony, and click here for coverage from North County ceremonies.

View photos from Carpinteria’s ceremony below.