Soldier killed in Afghanistan honored on Memorial Day

Memorial Day is Bob Crowe's Day.

It's the day he steps through the rows of white tombstones at the National Cemetery in Springfield, Mo. and stop to visit the grave of his buddy, Jerry, a comrade he watched die during a battle in Vietnam. "I do my own thing on Memorial Day," Crowe said, adding that both he and Jerry graduated from Springfield high schools. "That's my way to honor my friend. I usually say something to him. It's a time for me to reflect."

Crowe wouldn't reveal Jerry's last name, saying he didn't want anyone to interrupt those solemn moments.

"Like I said, that's my day."

In Branson, Mo., one of the soldiers who died in Afghanistan was to be remembered for his sacrifice.

Chief Warrant Officer Stan Harriman, a 1985 graduate of Strafford High School, died March 2. Initial reports stated Harriman had been killed in a battle with al-Qaida forces, but recent accounts say he may have been killed by wayward fire from U.S. forces.

"We consider our son a hero, " said his father, Chesley Harriman said, "but there are a lot of heroes out there, all of the men and women in Afghanistan."

Kansas City's renovated Liberty Memorial -- the nation's largest monument to World War I -- drew hundreds of visitors Monday, two days after its official rededication Saturday.