BATON ROUGE — East Baton Rouge Parish Mayor-President Sid Edwards sat down with WBRZ's John Pastorek to discuss not only the big issues facing Baton Rouge, but also the meaning and emotion behind Memorial Day. 

"[To me, it means] everything," Edwards said about the holiday honoring fallen American service members. "The sacrifice, the resilience, the remembrance, everything. Our true heroes in the world, and to be able to honor them and remember them is powerful." 

Earlier this month in the lead-up to Memorial Day, Edwards held a ceremony welcoming the public into the Main Library along Goodwood Boulevard for the "Valor Gallery," which displays pictures and biographies of men and women who died overseas.

"It was very poignant," the mayor said, highlighting a display of boots representing fallen service members. 

The mayor said that he wants to use Memorial Day as a day to remember all who served, not just those who are no longer with us.

Edwards said that he wants to put resources into assisting veterans who are homeless, which represents 5% of the homeless population. 

"We definitely need to identify those men and women who are veterans, who gave so much to our country. No way should they be homeless," Edwards told JP. "I'm gonna challenge my homeless team to go out there and make sure we're identifying those folks first and foremost."