Sparse crowd gathers at North Dakota Veterans Cemetery

MANDAN, N.D. (AP) -

A sparse crowd compared with previous Memorial Days gathered at the North Dakota Veterans Cemetery near Mandan on Monday.

The North Dakota National Guard livestreamed the ceremony so a crowd wouldn’t gather as the state continues to battle the spread of the coronavirus. Many people paid their respects and left. But canceling the ceremony entirely was “absolutely not” an option, cemetery director Pamela Helbling-Schafer said.

About 3,000 people watched online, the Bismarck Tribune reported, close to the number that usually attend in person. About 50 of those viewers were overseas, Helbling-Schafer said.

Spencer Danielson, 45, never considered changing his plans. He rode his Harley-Davidson from Minot to visit the grave of his father, Gary Danielson, a Vietnam-era veteran. It’s a trip he’s made annually since 2011, and one he said he would have made “come hell or high water.”

The ceremony opened with a flyover by two North Dakota National Guard Black Hawk helicopters. Those in attendance paused and listened from a distance to remarks from Gov. Doug Burgum and U.S. Sens. John Hoeven and Kevin Cramer.

The keynote speaker, retired Maj. Arnie Strebe, of Bismarck, said the bittersweet part of Memorial Day is “when you remember someone, you remember them as they were.”