The state has something special planned to honor Nebraska’s veterans amid the pandemic.
At Friday’s COVID-19 News briefing, Governor Pete Ricketts said that with the ongoing situation normal rituals of gathering at funerals and parks would be impossible.
“We’re not going to be able to do that. The Legion posts won’t be able to do that the way they’ve done it in the past,” said Ricketts. “We want to make sure that, again, we’re is not spreading the virus through these large groups.”
Ricketts instead announced that the state would hold a virtual memorial day ceremony in the rotunda of the Capitol building and broadcast it on NET.
Department of Veterans’ Affairs Director, John Hilgert, described his vision for the ceremony.
“You will have a single, very large candle on a candlestick that will represent all of the fallen. Around that candle will be surrounded by flowers and an ark behind the candle will be our service flags, our national flag, our state flag,” said Hilgert. “You will have guard sentinels, one individual on each side, standing guard over this flame.”
The candle will be lit at 8 am on Memorial Day and be extinguished at 8 pm, both by the family of Matthew Alexander, who was killed in action while serving in Iraq in 2007.