This morning I traveled to lakeside park in Winona for the Memorial Day festivities. We started with the pledge of allegiance. The municipal band played the national anthem while the big crowd sang along. Two kids from a local high school read poems about Flanders Field (about a location in Belgium during world war one). The band played the song from all four branches of the military. People who served in each branch stood up while the song from their branch of the military was played. An English teacher from a local parochial school gave a speech. A man from a Quaker congregation gave one too. We heard four veterans shoot their rifles three times. The crowd moved over to the lake to honor those lost at sea. Then the crowd moved over to the gazebo. Before the gazebo were 200+ white crosses in the turf. As each name of a Winona resident killed in action was read aloud a boy scout (including girls) laid a wreath on that white cross. While this was happening a man playing a bagpipe played Amazing Grace over and over until all the crosses had wreaths on them. We had another volley of gun fire followed by a mournful/jazzy rendition of Taps. We had a very nice ceremony.
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