More than anything, it’s the names that have the power to bring a crowd to tears.

On Memorial Day, Capt. Matthew Arny, the commanding officer of Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, will read the names of service members with ties to the community who died during a time of conflict. The Gold Star Families will be there to hear their loved ones’ names called out.

Everyone else should too.

Arny will be part of a Memorial Day service at Oak Harbor’s Maple Leaf Cemetery that will be more prodigious and sweeping than past ceremonies. It’s starts at 10 a.m.

The renewal of the solemn observance is largely due to the efforts of Kelly Davidson, a funeral director who works next door to the cemetery. She was disappointed when only a handful of people showed up for last year’s ceremony and vowed to change that.

This year, there will be music, speeches, politicians, service organizations, the traditional ceremonies and more.

And Arny will read the names.

Memorial Day, originally known as Decoration Day, started after the Civil War “for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country.”

Today it is a federal holiday for remembering and honoring those who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. More than 1.1 million men and women perished in wartime in the span of the nation’s history.

They came from big cities, small towns and everything in between. They pledged to protect their country and they died upholding that promise.

And they all had names.