Amid pandemic, Memorial Day service marked privately at National Cemetery of the Alleghenies

Cemetery staff conduct the 2020 Memorial Day Commemoration Ceremony at the National Cemetery of the Alleghenies on Sunday as members of the media keep a distance for the event in Cecil Township. The event, normally open to the public, was a closed event this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. Media was invited to attend to document the ceremony.

Cemetery director Edward Hajduk conducts the 2020 Memorial Day Commemoration Ceremony at the National Cemetery of the Alleghenies as wreathes are seen ready to be laid out in honor of veterans on Sunday in Cecil Township. The annual event was closed to the public, and conducted only by cemetery staff, who followed Centers for Disease Control social distancing guidelines.

Quinn King, center, a employee of the National Cemetery of the Alleghenies of seven years, and a U.S Army veteran who served during Operation Desert Storm, pays respects after wreathes are laid out for the 2020 Memorial Day Commemoration Ceremony at the National Cemetery of the Alleghenies on Sunday in Cecil Township. The annual event for Memorial Day weekend was closed to the public due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The morning sun casts long shadows of the memorial graves of veterans before the start of the annual Memorial Day Commemoration Ceremony at the National Cemetery of the Alleghenies on Sunday in Cecil Township.

Dan Sorrells, of Cecil, a veteran of the U.S Army, walks the memorial vaults after placing a flag for a veteran family member Sunday at the National Cemetery of the Alleghenies in Cecil Township. Sorrells was there for the annual Memorial Day Commemoration Ceremony.

Melissa Robbins, of Pittsburgh, a United States Marine Corps veteran and a grounds employee at the National Cemetery of the Alleghenies, helps roll the American flag with cemetery director Edward Hajduk, right, after the small group of about 15 cemetery workers conducted the 2020 Memorial Day Commemoration Ceremony with social distancing guidelines at the National Cemetery of the Alleghenies on Sunday in Cecil Township. The annual event, which involves wreath laying to honor the branches of the United States military, was closed to the public this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

A robin perches on a grave before the beginning of the 2020 Memorial Day Commemoration Ceremony at the National Cemetery of the Alleghenies on Sunday in Cecil Township.

Melissa Robbins, of Pittsburgh, a United States Marine Corps veteran and a grounds employee at the National Cemetery of the Alleghenies, helps roll the American flag with cemetery director Edward Hajduk, right, after the small group of about 15 cemetery workers conducted the 2020 Memorial Day Commemoration Ceremony with social distancing guidelines at the National Cemetery of the Alleghenies on Sunday in Cecil Township. The annual event, which involves wreath laying to honor the branches of the United States military, was closed to the public this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Thelma Wentzel places a flag on the grave of her husband, Edward C. Wentzel, a veteran of the U.S Army, an annual Memorial Day weekend tradition for her, at the National Cemetery of the Alleghenies on Sunday in Cecil Township.