Volunteers clean Fort Snelling grave markers in act of remembrance

A group of nearly 200 volunteers visited Ft. Snelling National Cemetery Saturday morning, with the intention of remembering the lives lost defending freedom.

The event, organized by Carry the Load, aimed to clean and restore headstones across the cemetery – as volunteers work across the country to do the same.

This comes 25 years after the September 11 attacks.

Volunteers included 96-year-old Robert Peota, himself a Korean War veteran.

"Like most people, I saw (the attacks) on TV," he said. "It seemed impossible – because we live in a country that was really highly protected. To think someone would do that, it really bothered me a lot."

Peota says his sacrifice Saturday is the least he could do to honor the lives lost.

"I feel sorry for all the families of the people that lost their lives there," he said. "I think one of the greatest things is to respect a person by saying, it's your life and you have the right to do what you want with it. That's what this country has given a lot of people."