Our series Remembering Our Veterans continues with the story of Erie native, Murray DeForce.

He joined the U.S. Army in September of 1990 after graduating from Erie's East High School. And his motivation for signing up came from a member of his own family.

"My brother Matt was in the Navy, so I went to Great Lakes and saw him graduate and that was pretty exciting," said Murrary. 

Murray spent time serving in over a dozen different countries, and it didn't take long for an eye opening experience.

"You know, traveling around some of the countries weren't the various places in the world, but all together was it was a great good time. I went to the Gulf War right out of high school. So that was pretty a shock going over there," said Murrary. "And, you know, the chemical weapons they were talking about so that a couple of different deployments were pretty tense." 

"It was scary. I mean, we went through I graduated Fort Leonard Wood combat engineer, and I went to airborne school. So we went right over there and just seeing the videos of the chemicals that they had used," said Murrary. "It was kind of scary. But, you know, even going over there to help them people." 

Murray DeForce is a proud veteran whose service time still resonates.

"You know, people ask me why I was in and what I did it for, and it was just, you know, for our country and my family and friends, I'm always standing up position of attention whenever the national anthem is plays played and I just listen to music and smile and and I know what the flag stands for. So it means a lot," said Murrary. 

Every Friday Murray DeForce wears red to remember and honor those who have been deployed. Murray DeForce and the DeForce family, thank you for your service.