![Lt. Governor Kim Driscoll [left] giving her opening remarks for the Memorial Day ceremony at the Massachusetts Memorial Cemetery in Agawam.](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/3f30199/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4032x2483+0+270/resize/880x542!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F64%2Fdc%2Fe991282b4c0a8f5a60aad38c49d9%2Fimg-6301.jpg)
Many Memorial Day celebrations across the region were canceled due to heavy rain and thunderstorms earlier on Monday, but the ceremony at the state Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Agawam quickly moved to their chapel.
Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll gave remarks on the continued effort to rebuild the veterans home in Holyoke and discussed the Heroes Act legislation the House is getting ready to file next week.
"[The Act] will expand benefits, modernize services, and even and get and get every veteran and family more of the support they need and deserve," Driscoll said.
State Sen. John Velis, D-Westfield, who served in the U.S. Army Reserve, reminded visitors about the importance of Memorial Day.
"That's where it hits you. I am going home. But many are not. Today we honor those that did not come," Velis said.
Velis, a Westfield Democrat, said people can honor those veterans who did not make it home by saying their names and telling their stories.
