To the editor:

Memorial Day is about more than summer road trips or the first day at the beach.

For years prior to my retirement, I served our country alongside my fellow federal workers at Norfolk Naval Shipyard as an electronics mechanic, as a nuclear power inspector and in central planning and at the Naval Supply System as a contracting officer’s technical representative.

In addition to serving every American, one of the federal workforce’s greatest responsibilities is to support and equip our nation’s men and women in uniform. My civil servant colleagues and I felt a great responsibility to provide for our troops, and we mourned each time we learned of a fallen soldier.

So to me, Memorial Day is sacred. On behalf of America’s federal workers — half of whom work directly with our nation’s military — I salute our fallen heroes and thank the men and women who are currently serving around the world to defend the United States.

John R. Bright

Suffolk