Posted on Tue, Nov. 12, 2002   

MINNESOTA: Veterans honored in state gatherings
Associated Press

Brass bands played patriotic tunes, gun salutes rang out and the state's new political leaders spoke of their commitment to soldiers past and present in events around Minnesota marking Veterans Day.

There were tributes all day Monday — in cemeteries, American Legion halls, community centers, high schools and Army recruiting stations.

At Fort Snelling National Cemetery, a group called Veterans for Peace sounded bells at a morning service.

Taps was played near a flagpole outside an Elk River elementary school. In Hackensack, veterans marched from the Legion Hall to the Veterans Memorial.

At Mesabi East High School in Aurora, students shook hands with World War II veterans and showed off patriotic posters. One read: "Our greatest heroes are ordinary people doing extraordinary things."

Col. Dennis Lord, executive director of the Minnesota National Guard, called on people at a service in New Ulm to keep all soldiers in their thoughts.

"Today is for all veterans — those who have served and those who are serving," he said.

One of the larger commemorations was at the Minnesota Veterans Home in Minneapolis, where more than 200 veterans listened to U.S. Sen.-elect Norm Coleman and Gov.-elect Tim Pawlenty.

Coleman spoke of his predecessor, Sen. Paul Wellstone, who died in late October in a plane crash. Wellstone earned a reputation as a strong advocate for veterans' health issues during his two Senate terms.

"His absence is very evident and very painful. Not everyone that makes the ultimate sacrifice for their country wears a uniform. Veterans Day in Minnesota will never be the same," Coleman said.

"I know that Senator Wellstone was a powerful champion for Minnesota veterans. I shall do my very, very best to carry out that part of his legacy."

About 427,000 veterans live in Minnesota, out of about 25 million living American veterans. In 2001, the federal government spent more than $786 million to serve the Minnesota veterans and their survivors, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Pawlenty said he, too, would "in every way, every day that I possibly can" work to honor the sacrifices of veterans at the state level.

"We need to pass the baton to the next generation so they understand and appreciate that these freedoms and these liberties and these privileges don't just happen by accident, they happen because of generations of individuals, that generations of people answered the call to freedom," Pawlenty said.