RURAL HORACE, N.D. - About 30 people stood in solemn stillness at a tiny rural cemetery just south of town.
Fifteen gunshots echoed in the quiet morning at Clemenson Cemetery, just before Randy Hajek played the somber military bugle call taps, honoring the two soldiers buried there.
Hajek and eight members of the Horace American Legion Post 293 would repeat the ceremony six more times throughout Memorial Day morning.
At St. Benedict Cemetery, dozens of brightly colored flowers waved in the wind while 29 flags were pushed into the ground to honor the soldiers buried there.
Brad Hanson of Fargo read the names of 25 soldiers, in-cluding his uncle, buried at Lower Wild Rice Cemetery.
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The Horace American Le-gion was organized in the late 1940s. Members of Post 293 have been holding Memorial Day ceremonies at small rural cemeteries ever since.
"It's something that means a lot, just to show their respect and the dedication that they've made to their fallen comrades, it's meaningful," Hanson said.
Arcade Duval, Ray Hajek, Paul Johnson and Jack Nel-son, four of the Horace American Legion members who took part in Monday's events, have each been doing this for more than 50 years.
Nelson has not missed one ceremony.
"Patriotism. Somebody's got to do it," he said as to why he participates year after year.
"We're veterans and we feel the patriotic obligation to do it," Hajek said.
Robert Bensen read the names of 59 soldiers at Horace Lutheran Church Cemetery. In 1974, there were only 13 veterans buried there, said Bensen, Horace Lutheran Church Cemetery sexton.
"We really appreciate the Legion for honoring our vet-erans at our local cemeteries," Bensen said.
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The Legion members stopped at the Sheyenne River, trailed by a cluster of followers, to honor two veter-ans of the Korean War lost at sea.
"Help us to remember today with reverence the valor and devotion of our departed comrades, not only those whose bodies consecrate our country's soil, but also those who sleep beyond the seas," said The Rev. David Sorensen of Horace Lutheran Church, in prayer.
Sorensen accompanied the American Legion members throughout the morning.
Kim Keller and her sister Marilyn Shaw, both of West Fargo, tossed wreaths into the river to honor Wallace Ode-gard, their uncle, and Norman Montplaisir.
Tears filled Keller's eyes as taps resonated over the bird cries along the river.
"We've been coming here since we were little kids," she said. "The older we get, the more it means to us."
Once the ceremony had ended at St. John's Cemetery, where 12 soldiers were hon-ored, children ran to pick up the fallen shell casings.
That's something Tim Brink used to do after the volleys were fired. Now, the four-year Post 293 member participates in thet hree-gun salute.
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Russell Berg, post com-mander, also remembers picking up casings after watching the ceremonies as a child. Berg has participated in the services as a post member for 30 years.
"I feel a patriotic duty to do it," he said.
That patriotic duty has passed down to his daughter, Jolene Sauvageau, a member of the Air National Guard, who placed the final eight flags at Brink Cemetery.
"A lot of these men have been doing it for so many years that it's nice for the younger generation to get involved so the tradition can continue," she said.
"It's wonderful. It's keeping memories alive," said Wilfred Clemenson, a Korean War veteran whose father, a World War I veteran, and wife are buried at Brink Cemetery.
"The cemeteries used to go to pot until the Legion started going this and then people would get out and clean up the grave sites, so it has more than one purpose, really," he said.
Readers can reach Forum reporter Tracy Frank at (701) 241-5526
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