Coloradans honor fallen service members for Memorial Day

Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial start to summer, which means people can get quite busy. But in Aurora, the Colorado Freedom Memorial hopes that you spare a moment for those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

"Everybody's anxious to have the three days off. We say, 'hey, out of all of those three days, find an hour, join us here and let's remember the reason for the weekend,'" said Rick Crandall, CEO of the Colorado Freedom Memorial Foundation.

Saturday, they held a remembrance event at the Colorado Freedom Memorial to honor Colorado's fallen soldiers.

"We have 6,218 names on the memorial," said Crandall. "We have names from all 64 counties of Colorado on this memorial."

This is always a special place, Crandall says, but this weekend it means just a little more for anyone who's lost a loved one in battle.

"They come all through the week to just sit quietly out here and reflect a little bit, to have quiet conversations that only families can have with their loved ones," he said. "Veterans who served beside them on the battlefield field come in. Coloradans just come. Just to find a time to reminisce, to bring back the good memories, right? To share tears if they need to."

He says anyone can come to say thank you to those who have sacrificed.

"If you don't have a family member that's on a memorial somewhere? Be grateful for that. Be thankful for that. But learn about those that do have a name on the memorial," said Crandall.

He doesn't want to give the wrong impression; he wants Coloradans to enjoy the freedoms and liberties these men and women died to protect. He and all the families at the service on Saturday just want a little of your time over the weekend.

"Have a good Memorial Day weekend. Enjoy what you get to do, but just find some time to say thank you," said Crandall.

At Saturday's event, a piece of steel from the USS Arizona was on display to honor Coloradans killed in the attacks on Pearl Harbor.