Minnesotans mark Memorial Day with tributes at Fort Snelling

Many Minnesotans gathered on the morning of Memorial Day at Fort Snelling to honor those who served.

There was a large crowd at Fort Snelling, paying tribute to those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. This year, the memorial held extra significance, marking 250 years of American independence. 

Roughly 200,000 soldiers are interred at Fort Snelling.

"It is a solemn reminder that every freedom we enjoy was purchased at a tremendous cost,"  Marshall Murphy, director of Fort Snelling National Cemetery, said.

Cmdr. Richard Middleton with the Memorial Rifle Squad spoke about those sacrifices those who served have made, leaving family and, in some cases, returning with both physical and mental injuries. 

"Our country's commitment to freedom during the last 250 years of wars and conflicts has been at the cost of personal sacrifice and, yes, of human lives," Middleton said.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar was also paying respects. She said she spoke with Joey Amor, the husband of Master Sgt. Nicole Amor, who was killed while serving her country earlier this year. 

"She was in Kuwait, stationed there when the drone hit her unit. I talked to her husband Joey this morning and they're honoring Nicole and going to the gravestone, so there are families like that who recently lost someone all over Minnesota," she said.

The senator also paid respects to her own father, James Klobuchar, who is a Korean War veteran.

"He was stationed in Germany, where he wrote anti-communist material during the Cold War," Klobuchar said.

She took a moment on Monday to lay flowers on his headstone.

While Memorial Day is certainly a somber day of remembrance, Klobuchar says it's also a unifier for Americans. 

"What ties us together, even if we have differences on war, we always stand up for the warrior and respect the warrior. That is what Memorial Day is about," she said.