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Thousands Appear On Memorial Day At DFW National Cemetery

Thousands upon thousands turned out to honor American service men and women on Memorial Day at DFW’s National Cemetery. This was also the first year volunteers placed small American Flags at every gravesite.

It was somber at times, joyous at others. Dignitaries spoke. The names of downed service members were read as the band played. On this, sunny, warm, near cloudless day, many said they had never seen bigger crowds here. They had certainly never seen 27,000 or so American flags, one at each of the gravesites, thanks to Bob Fussner’s dream.

His hard work, donations and volunteer efforts accomplished the goal. Max Legg was one of those who helped. Yesterday was his first Memorial Day Service at this cemetery.

Legg: Our son’s buried out here as of January the 9th of this year. He was with the First Cavalry and spent ‘04 and ‘05 in Baghdad and Sadr City. He died probably as a result of PTSD. He had gotten out of the service. Cause of death is unknown. he just didn’t wake up January 3rd. He was proud of his service , proud of his country, very proud.

Older generations shared the 650-acre National Cemetery with younger ones. And they shared a common thought.

Legg: Least we can do to honor these people that maintain that we can continue to have freedom.

And many were silent as three cannon alternately fired the traditional 21-gun salute.

Bill Zeeble has been a full-time reporter at KERA since 1992, covering everything from medicine to the Mavericks and education to environmental issues.