More than 1,200 people attend Memorial Day ceremony at Ft. Snelling National Cemetery
MINNEAPOLIS -- Honoring service members who made the ultimate sacrifice is top of mind this Memorial Day.
The Ft. Snelling National Cemetery in Minneapolis was just one of many backdrops for ceremonies Monday.
More than 1,200 people turned out for the morning ceremony, which started with a presentation of wreaths and the parade. It was followed by remarks from local leaders, including Gov. Tim Walz and retired Lieutenant Commander of the United States Navy Reserve Mike Peterson.
"It is an incredibly precious gift to live as the freest people and to do as we choose," Walz said. "That is a gift that is given by those that lay here. A gift that is unimaginable in most parts of the world."
Sen. Amy Klobuchar also spoke at the ceremony. She said she's attended the ceremony every year since she became a senator and the last couple of years have been even more meaningful after the death of her father, who is a veteran buried at the cemetery.
"It is a responsibility we must all take seriously: To remember the defenders of freedom," she said.
The hour-long ceremony ended with a rifle salute and the playing of taps.
Veterans like Lee Saunders of Brooklyn Park, who served in the Air Force, said the message of the event is not lost on them decades after they've served.
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"I know the importance of today and I know the importance of our freedom and how people sacrificed their lives so that we can live in a free nation and that's what I appreciate about America," he said.
Volunteers spent the weekend putting up roughly 190,000 flags at the cemetery where U.S. service members and their spouses are buried.
Volunteers are still needed next weekend to take down all those flags so they can be used again next year.
