POW service at The Villages

ARTICLE
This was quite an experience. It was apparently ex-POW day and Veterans of The Villages gathered to honor them. Amoung the veterans were about 10 ex-Pows who were each given the opportunity to tell their story. Some kept it brief, seemingly still uncomfortable talking about their experiences and others openned up as we listened to their entire military career. It was interesting to hear each ex-POW's story of how he was captured in either WWII or the Korean War. Another man didn't want to tell any depressing stories so he told of how he and his fellow men discovered cases of whiskey and liberated them.
This was one of those situations were I wasn't sure how far to stay back and how close to get at times because of the serious nature of the ceremony. There was another young female photographer there probably only one year older than me and once I saw her running all over during the ceremony I felt I could move around a bit more too. The only thing that bothered me was how she ran in front of the flagpole as they were doing the parade of flags. She was a bit obvious and I decided to stay still. Perhaps she got a better shot, but I felt I was more respectful. Where do you draw the line? I feel I must respect the ceremony and all those being honored as I do my job to cover an event and yet I wonder if others even consider this as they flitter around to get the best shot. Hopefully this won't hinder my photographs as I cover events but I feel it has already twice. What to do? Any thoughts?