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Memorial Day was about more than fluttering flags and patriotic music for the family of Army Spc. Richard Burress.

It was personal.

The annual observance at Naples Memorial Gardens in North Naples paid special tribute to Burress, 25, of Naples, who was killed in action in Iraq earlier this year.

An estimated 1,500 people turned out Monday morning for the hour-long Memorial Day ceremony, sitting in folding chairs under big white tents or shady trees.

“What can we do to pay tribute to those who have sacrificed all to give us liberty?” Collier County Veterans Council President Jim Elson said in welcoming remarks. “We can remember.”

The memory still is fresh for Burress’ family, who sat in the front rows at Monday’s ceremony.

Burress was the gunner on an armored vehicle in Al Jabour when a roadside bomb exploded Jan. 19. He was buried Jan. 28 at Palm Royale Cemetery, and that’s where his father was Monday, remembering again.

“It’s still hard,” Rich Burress said. “Each time, it takes a little bit out of you.”

At the Naples Memorial Gardens ceremony, veterans of combat in Vietnam and Iraq presented a wreath of red, white and blue flowers and a folded American flag in Burress’ honor.

After the ceremony, the Patriot Guard Riders, a volunteer motorcycle group, led a procession of 24 bikes down U.S. 41 and Vanderbilt Beach Drive to deliver the wreath to Burress’ grave site.

Burress family members shook hands with the riders afterward and said they have been grateful for the community’s support.

“We wish everyone who’s been through this good luck,” said Steve Burress, Richard’s uncle.

Two other men with Naples ties have died in Iraq and Afghanistan: Army Spc. Brandon Gordon, 21, died in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan in February 2007, and Army Sgt. 1st Class Wentz “Baron” Shanaberger, 33, was killed in Iraq in March 2004.

Veterans who served in the military as far back as World War I are buried at Naples Memorial Gardens, and their graves were decorated Monday with 1,600 knee-high American flags and bronze-colored medallions paid for with donations to the veterans council, Elson said.

As the crowd took their seats amid the graves Monday, the Barron Collier High School symphonic band played tunes associated with each of the military branches.

Elson read the 1868 order by Gen. John Logan that proclaimed the first Memorial Day and presented a roll call of America’s wars — from the War of 1812 to the war in Iraq. Actors dressed in uniforms depicting each of the wars marched to the beat of a Revolutionary War drummer.

Commissioner Jim Coletta spoke about his father’s military service, and U.S. Air Force Maj. Shawn Campbell, chief logistics officer at U.S. Central Command in Tampa and Baghdad, spoke of the importance of veterans’ sacrifices.

An honor guard fired off a rifle salute, a bugler played Taps and high school bagpipers played “Amazing Grace.”

Judy Humphrey, 70, watching the ceremony as she does every year, said Americans ought to be grateful for their country.

“I think everybody should be here,” she said.