UNION GROVE, Wis.  — Sunday marked the first in-person Memorial Day Ceremony at the Southern Wisconsin Veterans Memorial Cemetery in several years because of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Hundreds of people gathered to honor and remember those who have died serving our country in all branches of the Armed Forces.

Just a few steps away from the ceremony, Joyce Weeks took a few moments to herself to visit a loved one. 

“I come every Memorial Day,” Weeks said. “I try to come on his birthday, but it’s Jan. 9, so it’s hard to get through the snow sometimes.”

The person she visits is her son, Richard. He served in the U.S. Navy. 

“He served in the Bosnian war. He went in when he was 18, served for two years, then when he came home he had some trouble, was suffering from PTSD,” Weeks said. 

Weeks said her son died in 2009 because of his struggles with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder at 38-years-old. 

“It was very difficult,” Weeks recalled. “I don’t think anything could get worse than that.”

Weeks was far from the only person who made their way to the cemetery on Sunday, not only for the remembrance ceremony, but to see a loved one. 

Margaret Bahr brought her whole family. 

“My husband, Gordie, my brother-in-law, my kids, my grandkids, my daughters-in-law,” Bahr pointed out as she sat at her dad’s gravesite. 

She was so glad to see so many people show up on Sunday morning for the ceremony. 

“It means a lot. It means that they care, that they love each other,” Bahr said. “You know? Stuff like that.”

It doesn’t matter what branch, how long, or where someone served, it takes courage to enlist and fight to defend your country. 

Weeks is proud that her son had that courage.

“I’m so proud of him. I’m so proud of all of them who served,” Weeks said. “It’s just really nice. I’m thankful I can bring his children to pay their respects, and I’m also thankful for a beautiful day. You don’t always get that.”