Ringing church bells could be faintly heard from the veterans memorial outside the Mower County Government Center around 11 a.m. Wednesday, as more than 80 people stood around the memorial for the Veterans Day service.

As a part of the service to remember and honor all those who have served in the military, the Mower County Veterans War Memorial Committee broke ground on a renovation to the project that will commemorate more than a thousand veterans.

Committee member Norm Hecimovich led the service. He said each generation has seen people called into service, and it’s important to honor all veterans.

“Our freedoms we take for granted, but we wouldn’t have freedoms without our veterans,” Hecimovich said.

Some of those veterans served in a foreign country, which gave them the chance to see how life was different outside of America, Hecimovich said.

Ron Hanson, a navy veteran, said Veterans Day is an important time to remember the cost of our freedoms and way of life.

“When we were overseas, and you’d see these villages and stuff with a big hole in the front yard and the house all smashed up. You don’t see that here,” Ron Hanson said. “We have to fight for our freedoms.”

Hecimovich urged veterans to share their stories so future generations can learn from the past.

“It’s a very emotional day because when you start talking to veterans and you try to get them to tell the stories of what they did,” Hecimovich said. “I consider every veteran a hero, don’t matter if they were in war or anything. It’s a big a team, and a team only does well if everybody works on the team.”

The ceremony included the groundbreaking for renovations to the memorial, including pavers to bear the names of many area veterans. As many as 1,056 of the $300 pavers could one day line the insides of the sidewalks around the memorial, also called the Walk of Remembrance.

The pavers, Hecimovich said, will serve as a key way to acknowledge veterans because it’s often difficult to know who served.

“We have to know who are veterans because we don’t have a tattoo in the middle of our forehead to stand out that we served in the military,” he said.

A key addition to the monument will be a statue of a fallen soldier lying in the arms of another soldier. The statue will be a little larger than life-size. The memorial was originally designed for the addition of the statue, and there’s already an engraving of a nurse reaching out to where the statue of the soldiers will be.

Jeff Anderson, who’s spoke about the progress of the project, said completing the statue is the top priority because it’s scheduled to be completed for a Memorial Day dedication. Weather permitting, crews plan to fill in the fountain in the coming weeks so the statue can be installed in the spring, he said.

The 12 inch by 6 inch granite pavers have been ordered, and some will be engraved over the winter. Anderson said the pavers ordered by the first of the year will be completed over the winter. Depending on the weather next spring, some of the pavers could be installed in time for Memorial Day.

While he said some people’s concern that the project is moving slowly, Anderson told the crowd the work on the pavers is ahead of schedule. So far, 135 have been sold.

The pavers will likely be installed one row or section at a time as the orders come in and are completed, Anderson said. Once the pavers are all sold, Anderson said there will likely be some landscaping work done around the pavers.

Ron Hanson said his daughter bought a paver for him. He said the pavers are a great way to remember veterans, because future generations can go to the memorial and read the names of those who served their country.

“I think we do need a memorial here to let everybody know that freedom isn’t cheap,” he said.

The ceremony marked the 90th year of the day to honor veterans, which started with the first Armistice Day celebration in 1919 on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month to commemorate the end of World War I. Nov. 11 would become Veterans Day in 1954.

The service ended with seven gun salute veterans followed by a single trumpeter playing taps.

“We all should be proud we live in a country like this,” said Dennis Hanson, a color guard member of more than 20 years. “There are people willing to sacrifice even their lives for this county and for the other people of this country.”