OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) - — Many area cemeteries weren't as crowded on Monday as they have been other years.
But families still took time to visit their loved ones.
It's a day of remembrance and reflection.
"It's because of these folks here in the ground and people that are serving today is the reason why we have the country we have, the reason why we have the freedom," Joel Babb said.
Veterans, families and friends paid their respects to loved ones at cemeteries in Omaha and Bellevue.
Joel Babb, who's an air force veteran came to the Omaha National Cemetery to visit his father who died in 2017.
"I'm here to visit my dad he was in the Korean war," Babb said. "I wish I was able to get up here as much as I should be but I'm up here today on Memorial Day and I miss him, you know you don't realize you miss somebody until they're gone."
Many people showed up, but most kept their distance.
"I sort of like it like this," Babb said. "I like the quiet, and as far as the big crowd stuff I think I'll pass."
Crowds were smaller at the Bellevue Cemetery.
"This is different because normally there would've been a lot of people roaming around," Robert Rose said. "Here are a few people here now but it's a very small crowd."
Retired air force veteran Robert Rose says this day makes him grateful for his life.
"You think about the fact that a lot of people that you have known and do know are not with us and you wonder and think about how it could've been much worse," Rose said. "And you also think about how it could've been a lot better."
For Kylie Nickisch, it's a day to teach her 6 children about their grandfather who fought for our country.
"Just to let them know that we're here you know and I don't think of this day as the only day I think of them, Nickisch said. "I know they're always with me but I want my kids to see ... where they come from."
She says the unusual stillness of the cemetery made her emotional.
"It kind of makes it a little bit harder to be here I guess," Nickisch said. "I don't know it just, the family gatherings you know--it's just you're used to having the family gatherings."
The pandemic couldn't stop people Nickisch from showing love for others who gave all.
