Those who made the ultimate sacrifice for the nation were honored by big crowds and reflective speeches from officials as the town held its annual Memorial Day parade on Monday.

“Our honored fallen gave all for our God-given rights,” Veterans Advisory Board Chair Chris Pereira said. “Freedom is fragile and it must be protected at all costs.”

The parade included Dartmouth’s first responders, school marching bands, cub scouts, and Civil War reenactors.

Also participating was resident and Army veteran Jason Ray.

In addition to marching in the parade, he took part in a ruck — a walk with a pack or other gear — toward the town landing where he collected donations for the Veterans Association of Bristol County Food Pantry.

“It’s our chance to give back as veterans and civilians in the community,” he said.

Ray can often be spotted walking through Dartmouth to raise awareness of veteran suicide and other mental health issues for the nonprofit Rucking for Veterans.

Along the parade route, officials made stops at the Padanaram Bridge for the ceremonial wreath toss, and at the Elm Street Cemetery and World War I memorial where speakers took time to encourage residents to honor those lost lives by being good citizens.

“It’s incumbent upon us to take that responsibility and do something with it,” State Rep. Chris Markey said at the cemetery.

The main way to do this, he said, is to be civil with one another.

 “That would be the very simple sacrifice for us, but it would mean so much for the ultimate sacrifice,” he said. “If we’re going to have any meaning to this beyond today, it’s to act civilly to each other and get things accomplished.”

One such accomplishment, Select Board Chair David Tatelbaum suggested, was for this country to “find a way to honor the second amendment, but also get these weapons of mass destruction off our streets” to limit the amount of potential mass shootings in the future.

“It seems fitting on Memorial Day as we honor the people we do,” he said at the World War I memorial.

The parade ended with a reading of the names of the 34 Dartmouth soldiers who have died in combat since 1918.

Those who died in World War I were James M. Boomer, Randolph Erlandson, Edward McConvill, Charles W. Plummer, Thomas R. Plummer, Clifton O. Thacher and Robert Whalley.

In World War II Dartmouth lost Robert T. Atsatt, John Arthur Barnes, Leslie Norman Barry, Edward Cunha, Edward Herbert Dubois, Donald Albert Gravel, Milton Helfand, Anthony Medeiros, Joseph Duarte Medeiros Jr., William Mello, Gilbert Francis Motha, Anthony Pacheco, James Roderiques Quintino, George Henry Reis Jr., John J. Sheehan Jr., Anton Dias Souza, Joseph B. Souza, Harold Viera, Francis Xavier Wilcox Jr., and Alphege S.Yergeau.

Those who died in the Vietnam War were Gary M. Cohen, Robert A. Desrochers, Jeffrey A. Pinheiro, Wayne John Sylvia, Russell V. Almeida, and Cleaveland F. Bridgman.

Peter G. Enos was the lone Dartmouth combat death in the War on Terror. He was killed in 2004 in Iraq.

No Dartmouth residents died in either the Korean War or the Persian Gulf War.

“We thank the good Lord for returning our sons and daughters to us unharmed,” VFW Post 9059 Commander Joseph Toomey, Jr. said.