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Nina Moini

Preparing for Memorial Day is a year-round effort at Fort Snelling National Cemetery

Volunteers marked every grave at Fort Snelling with flags this year.
Volunteers marked every grave at Fort Snelling National Cemetery with American flags this year, ahead of the official Memorial Day observance at the cemetery on May 28, 2018.
Tim Nelson | MPR News

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Thousands of people will gather at Fort Snelling National Cemetery in Minneapolis for Memorial Day ceremonies on Monday, to pay their respects to those who gave their lives while serving in the U.S. military.

Preparing for the annual Memorial Day observance is a year-long effort, said Bob Roeser, administrative officer for the cemetery. He said planning begins nearly as soon as the previous Memorial Day's events are over.

For example, he said, there is work to do each spring to ensure the gravestones are aligned.

Veterans marched in a short parade.
Veterans marched in a short parade before the annual Memorial Day observance at Fort Snelling National Cemetery on May 28, 2018.
Tim Nelson | MPR News

"Those stones are almost 4 feet tall, so there is quite a bit of it underneath the ground," Roeser said. "But with the harsh winters that we have here they actually can shift at times, so we have to go through each section at the beginning of every year just to make sure that all the rows are perfectly lined up."

Cemetery staff have placed 800 full-sized flags on the grounds for Memorial Day, and volunteer groups raised money to put small flags at each of the thousands of graves. Roeser said that without the efforts of volunteers, the event would not be possible.

"It speaks to the commitment of our community as far as veteran support, and really trying to make Memorial Day something special out here," he said. "As a cemetery employee myself, I'm just in awe at all the volunteers that want to come out and want to help."

A wreath-laying will take place at 9:45 a.m. Monday, followed by the ceremony and parade at 10 a.m. The keynote speaker is Brig. Gen. Jon S. Safstrom, assistant adjutant general of the Minnesota Air National Guard.

Roeser suggested that people attending the ceremony arrive early, given the large crowd expected. He said those who attend will have the chance to "learn the serenity of a national cemetery, and of a veterans cemetery. They may see a family member out here, leaning on a headstone, crying. Just the emotions that happen here — you just really feel it whether you were in the service or not."