From the Brainerd Dispatch newspaper:  The Master of ceremonies was Dan Satre.  “This Memorial Day we come together to appreciate the freedom that we enjoy today as we honor the sacrifices that paid for it,” Satre said. “As we enjoy living in the land of the free and the home of the brave, we must continue to remind Americans that there’s no freedom without bravery, that those we honor today were brave when it counted the most.”

He spoke of the strength, determination and courage of those who laid down their lives so others in their country could live freely and safely.

“They had strength when the situation demanded it, determination when everything felt lost and devotion, courage and patriotism when others looked to them for guidance,” Satre said. “No one ordered them to practice the most basic of human ideals. They did it because they were Americans and because we live in a nation worth defending.”

While Americans across the country and the world paused from their busy lives to place flowers at the graves of those lost at war and mourn the loss of those gone too soon, Satre’s speech reminded the audience Memorial Day is not about sorrow or mourning or even about the number of service members killed. Gen. George S. Patton, he said, best expressed the sentiment in 1944, while looking out across a field in France filled with rows of crosses marking the graves of men who had just days before been part of his army. 

 Patton said: “It’s foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died, rather we should thank God that such men lived.”

“And that is what this very special day is all about,” Satre continued, “to be thankful that such men and women have lived and to pay tribute to those heroic patriots who bravely rose up and fought for something greater than themselves, protecting a home to which they would never return.”

“We must endure so that the youth of tomorrow understand the true cost of freedom,” Satre said. “... They gave up their todays for our tomorrows. And now we must carry their message of dedication and determination to the generation in uniform today and to those generations who will serve tomorrow because there’s no greater way to honor the memory of those who have secured it.”