MEMORIAL DAY OBSERVANCES to honor those who died while serving their country in the military are scheduled throughout the North Olympic Peninsula today.
Events include:
Honoring vets
PORT ANGELES — Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1024 will hold a Memorial Day service at 9:30 a.m. at the Mount Angeles Memorial Park cemetery, 45 Monroe Road.
The brief ceremony will be held at the flagpole in Veterans Circle at the south end of the grounds.
An honor guard from the Mount Olympus Detachment of the Marine Corps League will offer a 21-gun salute.
Thomas McCurdy will play the bagpipes to close the ceremony.
Mount Angeles Memorial Park and Sequim View cemeteries have staff members available over the Memorial Day weekend to help visitors locate graves.
The hours for extra staffing are from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
People also can pick up small U.S. flags at either location.
Volunteers are needed to decorate Port Angeles cemeteries.
Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1024 members and community volunteers will post flags along the driveways of either cemetery starting at 7 a.m.
Volunteers are needed to help put up the flagpoles and take them down at 4:30 p.m.
Anyone interested in volunteering should phone Dale Koelling, VFW Post 1024 treasurer, at 360-477-5686.
Multiple ceremonies
SEQUIM — American Legion Post 62 and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4760 will hold a Memorial Day service at 11 a.m. at Sequim View Cemetery, 1505 Sequim-Dungeness Way.
Following the service, members of both veterans organizations will conduct ceremonies at other area cemeteries.
The VFW will be at Pioneer Park at 11:30 a.m., Blyn at noon and Gardiner at 12:30 p.m., said Bonnie Woeck, president of the post’s Ladies Auxiliary.
The American Legion will be at Jamestown Cemetery at 11:30 a.m., Dungeness Cemetery at noon and Blue Mountain Cemetery.
Ceremony planned
GARDINER — A Memorial Day ceremony is planned at 12:30 p.m. at Gardiner Community Cemetery on Cemetery Road.
One-third of the graves in the ceremony are those of veterans, including that of Marvin G. Shields, the only Navy Seabee to receive the Medal of Honor.
The Sequim Veterans of Foreign Wars will host the ceremony.
A flag will be displayed at each veteran’s gravesite.
Scout-led program
FORKS — Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and Camp Fire members will hold a Memorial Day program at Forks City Hall, 500 E. Division St.
Scouts will lay a wreath at the City Hall monument honoring Forks-area service members who died in service to their country.
They also plan to lead a sing-along of patriotic songs and read a portion of Gen. John A. Logan’s General Order No. 11, which led to the establishment of Memorial Day in 1868.
Scouts and members of the public will close the program by walking to the Forks Transit Center, 551 S. Forks Ave., and lowering the U.S. flag to half-staff.
Services and concert
PORT TOWNSEND — Ceremonies are planned at several cemeteries and will culminate in a noon program at American Legion Marvin Shields Memorial Post 26.
Ceremonies will begin at 10 a.m. at Fort Worden Military Cemetery and then move to St. Mary’s Catholic Cemetery at 11 a.m. and Laurel Grove Cemetery at 11:30 a.m.
At the American Legion Hall at 209 Monroe St., the Memorial Day commemoration will begin at 11:30 a.m. with a 30-minute performance by the Port Townsend Summer Band. The band is directed by retired Navy Senior Chief Musician Karl Bach.
Services will start at noon with the advance of the colors, the Pledge of Allegiance and the national anthem.
Retired Coast Guard Capt. Jeffrey D. Hartman of Port Townsend will be the keynote speaker.
A buffet luncheon will be served by the Post Auxiliary following the ceremonies.
Hartman specialized in emergency response and readiness planning during his 30-year Coast Guard career, recording 6,000 flight-hours as a search-and-rescue helicopter pilot.
Port Ludlow display
PORT LUDLOW — LaMoyne Jevne has organized a Memorial Day flag display at his home at 1473 Thorndyke Road.
Today, passers-by will see six military flags — one for each of the five military branches plus the U.S. Merchant Marine — lined up across his front yard.
A U.S. flag will fly at each end of the display, with a banner proclaiming “Thank You Veterans.”
The flags will remain at half-staff until noon, and then be hoisted to full staff until sunset.
Jevne has arranged similar tributes in previous years, but he said this year will be something special.
“I think I’ve got one of the best yard displays anywhere,” he said.
Cemetery rites
BRINNON — The public — and especially veterans, members of the military and their families — are invited to Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 10706’s Memorial Day ceremonies at the Brinnon Cemetery on Church Road at 11 a.m.
Music will be provided by Kendra Haninnen.
For more information, phone John or Dalila Dowd at 360-796-4001.
VFW ceremony
CHIMACUM — A Memorial Day ceremony is planned at 3 p.m. at Greenwood Cemetery.
The ceremony will be hosted by the Veterans of Foreign Wars District 14, which includes eight VFW posts and five auxiliaries on the North Olympic Peninsula.
Chimacum Boy Scouts also will participate.
After the ceremony, a reception is planned at the VFW Post 7498 Hall at 221 Masonic Hall Road in Port Hadlock.
The public is invited to attend.
For more information, phone Dick Wiltse at 360-385-0479.
