Huddled under umbrellas in pouring rain and surrounded by more than 177,000 gravesites marked with flags, a couple hundred people did not let weather interrupt their plans for the annual solemn Memorial Day ceremony at Fort Snelling National Cemetery.
"Democracy is not a fair weather sport," Gov. Tim Walz said. "Democracy is not for the faint of heart. Democracy was paid for with that sacrifice and our responsibility, the living, is so conduct ourselves in a matter befitting their sacrifice."
Fort Snelling officials brought back the tradition of a replica of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier this year to honor the 280 unidentified soldiers buried there. It was once on display for more than 50 years before it fell into disrepair. Officials said to keep them in mind this Memorial Day, too.
Memorial Day is also a somber day for current veterans.
"I've seen so many body bags that they were just green body bags loaded in trucks," Chaplain Richard Jenkins, who served in the Vietnam War, said. "Many don't know what the soldiers have gone through."
