The Colorado Freedom Memorial in Aurora brought together six of Colorado’s World War II veterans to its 12th-annual Memorial Day observance Saturday. Politicians, service members, and the community gathered to honor them, plus hundreds of others whose names are etched in the glass monument in Aurora.
It was an auspicious moment for veterans of that war, memorial director Rick Crandall told the crowd: 2025 marks 80 years since World War II ended.
The conflict has long been a fixture in the stories Americans tell themselves about their country, and this was an occasion to look back and reaffirm that importance. But it was also a moment to reflect on the nation’s present — some used that history as a lens to view where the nation is heading next.
Nearly a quarter of Colorado’s population was involved with the war.
Aurora Mayor Mike Coffman told the crowd the military built this city, starting in World War I with the opening of Fitzsimons General Hospital.
The Lowry and Buckley air fields were converted to Air Force bases in time for World War II. The war effort involved as much as 22 percent of Colorado’s 1.1 million residents.
“During the years 1941 to 1945, some 250,000 of Colorado's sons and daughters served in World War II — and of those, over 3,600 were killed in action or from wounds suffered on the battlefield,” Coffman told the crowd, reading a proclamation. “Of the over 246,000 who returned home 80 years ago, less than 800 are still with us today. We are honored to have six of those heroes with us.”
At the podium, speakers recognized Coloradoans’ importance in the war: Soldiers in the 10th Mountain Division trained in the Rocky Mountains before fighting in the Italian and French Alps; Major General Maurice Rose, the highest-ranking Jewish officer in his time, led from the front and was honored by President Harry Truman when he was killed.
Major General Laura Clellan, head of Colorado’s Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, made sure to note the Colorado National Guard, which she leads today.
The 57th Infantry Regiment was among the first reservists to enter World War II, she said, and fought from northern Africa into Italy and then Germany. As the conflict came to an end, they were called to liberate the Nazis’ Dachau concentration camp, where 40,000 prisoners were killed between 1933 and 1945.
“The unit had endured more than 500 combat days, but they were not prepared — and they couldn't have been prepared — for what they would find at Dachau,” she said.
“We remember not only what they fought against, but what they stood for, the enduring dignity of every human life. And today through this solemn ceremony, we honor them and we honor all Colorado and so have made the ultimate sacrifice and service to our nation.”
The nation’s contemporary struggles were context to this history.
Speakers mostly kept comments focused on the past, but it was clear they were also dwelling on the present. Most made nods to the country’s current divisions.
“Guide us, O Lord, to be instruments of your peace, honoring the fallen by building a world where love overcomes hate and division,” Colorado National Guard Chaplain David Nagel said in his opening invocation. “May their memory be a beacon calling us to serve one another, as you taught us.”
U.S. Rep. Jason Crow mentioned it, too.
“We’re in a moment where things are tough in our country. We have tough debates and we seem divided,” he said. “We think about those who made the sacrifice not as any one political party … but as an American who is willing to do it for all of us, everybody.”
Sen. John Hickenlooper noted the present with an eye towards recent foreign policy shifts.
“This memorial here, I think, is a wonderful opportunity for all of us to share some of those stories and to really hear how deep our debt is to those who, at complete risk of life, endured sacrifice and suffering for our freedom,” he said. “At this moment, when we're reevaluating our allies and our freedom, I think all the time that we've sometimes taken it too much for granted.”
Staff Sgt. Howard Berger, one of the six honored on Saturday, told Denverite America hasn’t done a great job honoring what he and his comrades fought for. There’s a political angle to that sentiment — the 101-year-old Republican said he does not support President Trump — but it’s also about the way Americans have been treating each other.
“I am troubled by it and I hope to do something about it,” he said. “America is very important to me. I fought for them and our country and I still am.”
Denverite asked Crandall, the founder of this memorial effort, if he worries the symbols embedded here might become warped by a society in conflict. The ability to argue and voice opinion, he said, is kind of the point.
“The 6,200 on this memorial that died defending freedom died so you could voice your opinions — so you could share your thoughts,” he said. “I would imagine they didn't figure that it would get to be so divided, so loud and so polarized — but it's a right that [people] have, that they died for. And so we honor that.”
