Their final resting places are at the hallowed grounds of national cemeteries such as Arlington National Cemetery, or beneath the rows of crosses overlooking the beaches of Normandy or beneath the sea or in places yet unknown.

“We’re here today for them,” the Rev. Gabriel Casciato told the roughly 150 people gathered Monday morning for the Memorial Day observance at Terry Moehnke Veterans Memorial Park.

“Speak their names, tell their stories, thank God who gave them to us regardless of how long we were able to be with them,” he said.

Casciato, an Air Force veteran and senior pastor of CrossWay Evangelical Free Church in Fort Dodge, spoke in the amphitheater overlooking Badger Lake as the American flag and flags of the branches of the armed forces snapped in the breeze above him.

-Messenger photo by Bill Shea
Two patriotically clad people sit in the shadow of an eagle sculpture and listen to the Karl L. King Municipal Band play at the beginning of the Memorial Day ceremony at Terry Moehnke Veterans Memorial Park Monday.

Memorial Day, he said, is to honor “those who fell to enemy fire, those who lost their lives to accidents in the combat zone, and, I would argue, those who lost their battle after the war followed them home.”

While Memorial Day is to honor those who were lost, Casciato said their families should not be forgotten.

“We must never forget the families of our fallen,” he said. “Long after the battlefield guns have been silenced and the bombs stop exploding, the children of our fallen warriors will still be missing a parent, spouses will still be without their life partner, parents will continue to grieve for their heroic sons and daughters who died way too early, and brothers and sisters in arms will continue to carry their memory.”

The Memorial Day ceremony began with a half hour concert of patriotic music by the Karl L. King Municipal Band.

The band also accompanied Scott Johnston as he read excerpts from Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s farewell speech entitled “Duty, Honor, Country.”

-Messenger photo by Bill Shea
Scott Johnston reads excerpts from Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s farewell speech during the Memorial Day ceremony Monday at Terry Moehnke Veterans Memorial Park.

Johnston later read the roll call of all Webster County veterans who have died since Memorial Day 2025.

The ceremony concluded with a rifle salute from the color guard of Veterans of Foreign Wars Past 1856 and the playing of taps by two trumpeters.

-Messenger photo by Bill Shea
The Rev. Gabe Casciato, senior pastor of CrossWay Evangelical Free Church, speaks during the Memorial Day observance Monday at Terry Moehnke Veterans Memorial Park.