Memorial Day ceremony honors veterans buried in Chicago cemetery from every single American war

CHICAGO - A special commemoration was held at a Chicago cemetery on Memorial Day, where veterans from all of America's wars are buried, dating all the way back to the Revolutionary War.

At Rosehill cemetery, not far from the Andersonville neighborhood, there is a veteran buried representing every single war that America ever fought. 

Monday's event kicked off this morning around 10 a.m. with a parade that started in Andersonville, a couple blocks away, marched up Clark Street and through the cemetery's massive stone gate on Ravenswood. 

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There were a number of speeches from representatives of veterans groups and a few politicians, of course, as well as traditional Memorial Day staples like the playing of "Taps" and the laying of a ceremonial wreath. 

Rosehill was founded back in 1859, just 14 months before the start of the Civil War, and it includes Chicago's largest Civil War burial site, containing 350 Union soldiers and generals

It also includes the grave of a Revolutionary War veteran, one of only two who are buried here in Chicago. 

Because of the Civil War connection, there was also a separate ceremony by Civil War re-enactors who fired off a replica Civil War cannon. 

In a final touch, the avenue of the flags in which several 100 large American flags are planted in the area, where most of the war dead are buried. 

Among those present Monday was 99-year-old Fritz Cohen, a World War II veteran. 

Cohen was born in Germany and immigrated to the United States when his Jewish family fled the Nazis in 1938. He came to Chicago, where he enlisted and became an American citizen upon entering the army. He served in the army in Italy, also assisting as a translator because he knew German. 

He is the only World War II veteran who was at Monday's event, their ranks dwindling very sadly, the Greatest Generation slowly disappearing.