POST FALLS - Memorial Day is emotional for Jan Lazarewicz. The veteran and American Legion member's dad was a prisoner of war when Germany invaded Poland. At 9, he escaped Poland and he later enlisted in the U.S. Army in West Germany.

POST FALLS - Memorial Day is emotional for Jan Lazarewicz.

The veteran and American Legion member's dad was a prisoner of war when Germany invaded Poland.

At 9, he escaped Poland and he later enlisted in the U.S. Army in West Germany.

Lazarewicz was among those who participated in the ceremony at Evergreen Cemetery in Post Falls on a rainy Monday.

"One of the things that's difficult for me is that many Americans don't recognize what we actually have," he said. "But, unless you've had experiences, it's difficult to recognize what we have.

"Experience in life is extremely important."

The wet weather failed to deter crowds from attending ceremonies honoring fallen veterans throughout western Kootenai County in Post Falls, Rathdrum, Spirit Lake and Blanchard and across the border during the dedication of the regional Veteran's Cemetery at Medical Lake.

In Post Falls, Sen. Jim Hammond shared two veteran stories, including that of Medal of Honor recipient Ed Freemen, who recently died in Boise.

Freeman was struck by enemy fire four times while rescuing 29 of his fellow soldiers in Vietnam.

"Some would not have made it without the captain and his Huey (helicopter)," Hammond said.

The other story was excerpts about a common soldier in "A Soldier Died Today" by A. Lawrence Vaincourt.

"It is the Bills, Johns and Joes of this world that we honor today just as we honor the Ed Freemans," Hammond said. "Every veteran who served deserves our praise, our honor and our appreciation. Whether they died in battle or of aged infirmities, when called, they answered and served our country well and defended our freedom.

"Let us never take that freedom for granted."

Hammond said he hopes exercising some of our freedoms increases. Just 22 percent of the area's voters voted in the primary election last week.

"I urge you to honor our fallen heroes by recognizing and exercising our freedom," he said.

Also in Post Falls, the new veterans timeline memorial next to the museum and City Hall was dedicated.

The memorial, painted on metal by local artist Linda Fabrizius, features 23 local veterans from the mid-1800s to present on a coast with the corresponding battleships and fighter planes of that era over the ocean in the background.

The memorial honors veterans of all conflicts and dates back to the pre-settlement warrior.

The new cemetery at Medical Lake, which is available for North Idaho veterans and their spouses, can hold 70,000 burial sites. The next closest veterans cemetery is in Eagle near Boise.