This morning, under a sunny but cold Yerevan sky, hundreds visited the Yerablur Military Cemetery to pay respects to Monte “Avo” Melkonian on what would have been his 54th birthday.

There were hundreds of cadets from the Monte Melkonian Military Academy who waited in single file to approach Monte’s grave site and leave a single white flower in respect. Most were born after the national hero was struck down.

Later, upon the order of their commanding officer, they removed their winter caps and knelt of one knee for a minute of silence.

There were Monte’s war time comrades who always make the trip to Yerablur both on the day that Avo was born in California and the day he died on the Artsakh battlefield.

Young people from a local organization for the blind recited poems in Monte’s honour at the gravesite.

I said my peace and left, steadfast in the conviction that Monte’s legacy lives on in the many people he touched along his life’s journey and those who have come to respect the man in death.