Minneapolis American Legion Post 1 Celebrates Memorial Day at the Pioneers
& Soldiers Memorial Cemetery
in Minneapolis Minnesota
May
28, 2007, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Memorial Day 2007 was celebrated by American Legion Post One at the Pioneers and Solders
Memorial Day Cemetery in Minneapolis.
Gary
Martin was the emcee and The Reverend Becky Sechrist delivered the Invocation. The
Seward Concert band provided great renditions of our most favorite patriotic songs. Brenna
Kruse of South High School recited “Logan’s Orders”.
The Main
Address was delivered by Private Jim Moffet of the 1st Minnesota Volunteer Infantry. The First Regiment of Minnesota Volunteer Infantry is a
non-profit organization founded in 1973 to perpetuate the memory and teach the history of the unit, the state of Minnesota, and nation during the years of the American Civil War (1861
- 1865). You can discover more about their organization at their web site http://firstminnesota.org/.
Many
of our Post 1 members were present to honor those who have fallen in the service of our country.
Lynne
Nottage, The Fifth District Finance officer and member of Post One was among the dignitaries who placed the wreaths at the
cemetery.
The Post One Rifle Squad rendered
honors with the Twenty-One Gun Salute. The squad, commanded by Del Rose, included
the following members: Wally Bothun, Tony Ringwelski, Jake Shetka, John Rannow, John Nelson, Ward Jeffers and David Mauritson.
In June 2002,
Minneapolis Pioneers & Soldiers Cemetery was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in part because it is the oldest
existing cemetery in Minneapolis. The first burial, that of a ten month old child named Carlton Keith Cressey, took place in September 1853. Since that time approximately 27,000 people have been buried at Pioneers and Soldiers. In the early 1920s approximately 6,000 – 7,000 people were removed so about
20,500 remain. Of those half are children under the age of ten.
There are
approximately 200 veterans buried in Layman’s-three from the War of 1812, 164 from the Civil & Indian Wars, 16 from
the Spanish-American War and one from World War I.
