COEUR d'ALENE - Gone are the buildings, the barracks, mess hall and hospital.

But at Farragut State Park Memorial Plaza, near the Museum at the Brig, are lifetimes of memories.

Some good, some bad, but each year for 25 years, veterans of the Farragut Naval Training Station reunite on the grounds that shaped them when they were 17-year-old recruits preparing to fight in World War II.

Gone, of course, is the Axis Power.

But it's impossible to forget, the solders said. And each year coming back to Saturday's annual reunion ceremony is bittersweet.

"It brings back memories," said Al Sweetman, having trained at Farragut in February 1943 in a few feet of snow, a shock for the Los Angeles native.

Dressed in his Navy uniform, the Hauser Lake man said each year he recognizes fewer and fewer of his comrades, with the war 70 years in the past and counting. Still, the chance to set foot on the old grounds is a thrill.

"It makes me feel good to see what they're doing," he said. "Most of them who worked with me are gone."

Following the flag raising and national anthem, event coordinator Janice Lauer and Idaho park ranger Dennis Woolford thanked the dozens of servicemen who attended the memorial. At the end, each veteran, accompanied by members of their family, held a piece of a giant American flag that covered the lawn like a canopy. The event is about making what happened there 70 years ago permanent.

Around 100 people attended.

"Without you," Woolford told veterans. "We wouldn't be here talking."

Woolford recently wrote a book about the Farragut Naval Training Station with fellow history buff Gayle E. Alvarez, ensuring all the more the old station wouldn't be forgotten.

"This place grows on you," he said.

For the men who trained there, each return visit it grows a little more.

"Sentimental," Navy veteran Joe Clay described his feelings looking out at the grounds. "It's worth seeing. There aren't many of us left."