Chaplain lauds Minnesota vets as 'the only heroes I know'

by Curtis Gilbert, Minnesota Public Radio

MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota National Guard State Chaplain John Morris told an audience today that Memorial Day is about living veterans, too -- not just those who fell on the battle field.

"It's you who stood here today who are the constant, vigilant guard of the memories of those who can't be here, who are buried at countless cemeteries around the world and this nation," Morris told an audience at the Minnesota Veteran's Home in Minneapolis. "It's you, who are our veterans, that we honor today, who help us remember the terrible, terrible price that we've paid to be a free people."

Morris also told the residents he bristles when he hears professional athletes called "heroes."

"The 1.1 million men and women who've put the nation's uniform on and went off to war when asked, and who laid their lives down, those are the only heroes I know," he said. "Someone playing in the toy department of life, a children's game, never measures up."

Founded in 1887, the home has 341 residents. The ceremony also included a tribute to the residents who've died in the last year. There were 89 names on the list.