By 9:30 Monday night, the Rock County Veterans Memorial at the courthouse will be aglow with hundreds of red solo cups with small American flags and battery-operated candle votives.
According to Luverne Chamber Director Jane Wildung Lanphere, a Monday evening service at the Courthouse Square will replace the usual Sunday candlelight vigil on the evening before Memorial Day.
“With Sunday being graduation, we didn’t want there to be conflicts,” Lanphere said.
She said Memorial Day services Monday morning at Maplewood Cemetery will be the same as usual, with the American Legion and VFW and speaker Mike Welch.
Monday afternoon services at the Veterans Memorial begin with a 3 p.m. federal government-initiated national hour of remembrance to officially remember those who were killed in KIAs and MIAs.
“That is when you are officially asked to remember KIAs and MIAs,” Lanphere said.
“We will present the wreath and read the names of the fallen at the Veterans Memorial at 3 o’clock followed by taps,” Lanphere said.
Sampson exhibit opens in Military Museum
Following that, the Herreid Military Museum will open for the new exhibit of Father Frances Sampson, whose story is told through the 1998 movie, “Saving Private Ryan,” starring Tom Hanks and Matt Damon.
Sampson was a military chaplain known for staying with the enlisted men he served during World War II, including during the invasion of Normandy.
His ties to Luverne are through his mother, Philomena Ryan, who was born and spent her childhood in Luverne. Sampson’s father ran a hotel in Luverne, and his mother worked there, too.
She is buried in St. Catherine Cemetery, where Sampson also chose to be laid to rest next to her when he died in 1996.
A 6-foot-tall quartzite monument marks his grave and tells the story of his military career.
Now, the Herreid Military Museum will expand on that story with artifacts and details of his service and life contributions.
Red solo cups and American flags
From 3 to 8, members of the public are invited to come to the veterans memorial to pick up luminaries to participate in the evening observance.
“We will give them a red solo cup with sand in it and an American flag, and they can set it on the paver of any deceased veterans at the veterans memorial,” Lanphere said. “Starting at 8, we will begin putting little lights in the cups.
From 8:30 until the next morning the luminaries will remain lighted.
“Our goal is to have hundreds of lights out there,” Lanphere said. “By 9:30 at night it’s going to be gorgeous.”
The Memorial Day schedule at the Courthouse Square is as follows:
•3 p.m. — National Hour of Remembrance with the placing of the wreath and reading of the names of Rock County KIAs and MIAs, followed by taps.
•3:30 to 8 p.m. — Placing of luminaries. The public is invited to place luminaries on pavers of deceased veterans.
•4 p.m. — Opening of Father Francis Sampson exhibit in the Herreid Military Museum (open until 8 p.m.)
•8:30 p.m. — Lighting of the luminaries.
•9 p.m. — Moment of reflection.