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Hoosiers pay their respects on Memorial Day

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – Hoosiers paid their respects Monday to men and women who lost their lives serving our country.

Cemeteries across the state are holding Memorial Day ceremonies.

Crown Hill Cemetery held a Civil War re-enactment with a 21-gun salute. The cemetery also held a Civil War ceremony featuring a Navy band.

In the middle of all the noise, one local army veteran found time for a moment of reflection. Neil Handley is from Liberty, Indiana.

“I come with a heart filled with gratitude that they did serve and gave their lives, which was what I was not required to do,” Handley said.

Gov. Eric Holcomb praised Hoosiers for their military support at East Washington Park.

“Let’s make sure that we always remember why it is that we have this freedom and who paid the ultimate price for it,” Holcomb said.

Sen. Todd Young spoke to a crowd at a ceremony in downtown Fishers.

“I think of Megan McClung, also in my class at the Naval Academy, who died serving this country,” Young said. “I think of people like this who I’ve met along the way.”

Handley joined the Army in 1958 and served in Germany during the Berlin Wall crisis. When he walks by the gravesites at Crown Hill, he thinks of the soldiers he met along the way.

He’ll be back next year and the year after that.

“I always felt it was an extension of my responsibility and duty to the country,” Handley said.

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