"We live lives worthy of their sacrifices:" Memorial Day ceremony honors those who served our nation

MILWAUKEE -- Hundreds paid their respects to the fallen at Wood National Cemetery on Memorial Day. This year, one special group of veterans in particular was honored.

The ceremony is a yearly tradition in Milwaukee -- and Wood National Cemetery is a special place. It is the final resting place for veterans of every major American conflict -- except for the Revolutionary War.

Memorial Day ceremony at Wood National Cemetery

There are 34,000 grave sites at Wood National Cemetery. Each year, volunteers place a flag at each one in preparation for the Memorial Day ceremony.

Wood National Cemetery

"We live lives worthy of their sacrifices," said Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele.

"Your freedom of speech, freedom to choose religion, your freedom to bear arms, that is all from these fallen men and women," said Michelle Sandberg, a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps.

Each grave site at Wood National Cemetery represents a symbol of a homecoming that never was.

"That is the most important thing today -- to honor our veterans who are deceased and can't say hi to their mothers in the morning," said Glenn Fieber, veteran of the Vietnam War and keynote speaker on Monday.

This year there was a special emphasis to honor all those who served in Vietnam -- as the nation celebrates the 50th anniversary of the end of that war.

"We were an ambush outfit, we were to stop the VC from coming into the villages," Fieber said.

Fieber is a Milwaukee man who served as an infantryman in Vietnam -- and remembers a dear friend.

"I had been there for about six months. He lasted for maybe a couple weeks. He was killed in action. We became good friends because we were both from Milwaukee," Fieber said.

Memorial Day ceremony at Wood National Cemetery

Monday's ceremony included a flyover followed by a presentation of wreaths and a balloon release for prisoners of war and the missing in action. The ceremony ended with a rifle volley.

A prayer service at the Milwaukee VA Medical Center Chapel followed Monday's ceremony.

Flyover at Wood National Cemetery