For many it's a day off work to grill burgers or have a picnic in the park.
But, Memorial Day means so much more. Along Peoria's Riverfront, area residents could find the real reason for the holiday.

Peoria's riverfront was filled with patriotic songs and patriotic speeches. It's day when veterans fit back into full uniform and others show their support by slipping into anything red, white and blue and shedding a tear.

"My father was a big parade lover and instilled in us the love of our country," Jessie Lunini from Peoria Heights says.

In the crowd of about 400 at the Gateway Building on a rainy morning, there were faces that spanned generations and wars.

"For us younger guys to see the World War Two and Vietnam Veterans is amazing. We always think they had it so bad and so much harder than we did," Specialist Jamey Gorsuch, an Iraq War Veteran from Peoria, says.

"It's a lot of memories. We lost some men when I was over there, some friends," World War II Veteran Charlie Berk from Peoria says.

Wreaths and flowers were laid to recognize those who lost their life in all of America's conflicts.

"I think it's really special that they would honor people that were in the war," 10-year-old Peorian Kayleigh Anderson says.

More than a million Americans have died while wearing the uniform during wars. To put that into perspective, that's like taking the population of Peoria off the map 10 times.

The playing of Taps capped off the service that lasted about an hour and included service members from each branch of the military.

"We are the lucky ones because we got back," Berk says.

But, they won't forget.