Memorial Day observances set across Peninsula

Published 12:01 am Monday, May 28, 2012

Memorial Day observances, honoring the men and woman who died while serving in the U.S. armed forces, are scheduled throughout the North Olympic Peninsula today.

Today’s ceremonies, organized by town, are:

PORT ANGELES

— Volunteers are needed to decorate Port Angeles-area cemeteries.

Post members will provide volunteers with flags and instructions.

On Memorial Day, Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1024, Port Angeles, will display U.S. flags on poles along the driveways at Ocean View Cemetery and Mount Angeles Memorial Park starting at 7 a.m.

Volunteers are needed to help put up the flagpoles and then return at 4 p.m. to take the flags down.

Graves of veterans were decorated on Saturday.

Ocean View Cemetery is located at 3127 W. 18th St.

Mount Angeles Memorial Park is located at 45 S. Monroe Road.

Anyone interested in helping should phone Dale Koelling, treasurer of VFW Post 1024, at 360-477-5686.

— VFW Post 1024 will conduct a Memorial Day ceremony to honor deceased veterans at Mount Angeles Memorial Park at 9:30 a.m.

The ceremony will be at the flagpole in the veterans circle, where many veterans are buried, at the south end of the grounds at 45 S. Monroe Road.

A member of the VFW will speak.

A bagpiper, bugler and gun salute are planned.

The ceremony will last about 20 minutes, said Dale Koelling, treasurer of the post.

— The Clallam County Veterans Association will sponsor a Memorial Day service at the Clallam County Veterans Center, 216 S. Francis St., Port Angeles, at 11 a.m.

The Olympic Peninsula chapter of the Korean War Veterans Association, Korean War Association is hosting the event, and Gerald Rettela, president of the chapter, will serve as master of ceremonies.

Participants will include the American Legion Riders of Post 29, the Honor Guard from the Mount Olympus Detachment of the Marine Corps League, Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1024, said Tammy Sullenger, veterans coordinator for Clallam County.

The VFW Post 1024 Ladies Auxiliary will host a cake and coffee reception following the service.

Both the program and reception are open to the public.

The program includes an invocation and benediction by Thomas J. McKeown Sr., chaplain of VFW Post 1024; singing of “God Bless America” and “America the Beautiful” by Teresa Pierce, executive communications coordinator for the city of Port Angeles; and a welcome and Memorial Day thoughts by Dale Koelling, VFW Post 1024.

Placing of Memorial Day wreaths will follow, along with a flag ceremony by the American Legion Riders, Post 29; a rifle salute by the Marine Corps League Honor Guard, Mount Olympus Detachment 897; and finally, the playing of taps by Don Gregory, Marine Corps League, detachment bugler.

— The Blue Mountain Community will hold an observance of Memorial Day at the old schoolhouse on Blue Mountain Road in Port Angeles at 12:30 p.m.

Representatives of the American Legion Post 62 of Sequim will perform a flag ceremony, and other presentations also are planned, including the playing of taps, said Bill Hermann, one of the organizers.

“It’s a community event,” Hermann said, adding that everyone is welcome at the free event.

“We’ve had somewhere in the range of 100 people show up” at past events, he said.

“We invite folks to come just a little bit early,” Hermann added.

A potluck of cakes, cookies, juice and coffee will be served.

For more information, phone 360-452-6765.

SEQUIM

— Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4760 will host a ceremony at 11 a.m. at Sequim View Cemetery, 1505 Sequim-Dungeness Way.

After participating in the ceremony, American Legion Post 62 will conduct short ceremonies at Jamestown Cemetery at noon, Dungeness Cemetery at about 12:30 p.m. and Blue Mountain Cemetery at about 1 p.m., said Carl Bradshaw, post commanding officer.

The VFW also will conduct ceremonies at other cemeteries. They 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.

— A nonpartisan community “Celebrate America” picnic will be held on the grassy parkway directly in front of The Home Depot on Washington Street in Sequim from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Attendees should bring their own food, beverages, blankets and flags.

GARDINER

— A Memorial Day ceremony is planned at 12:30 p.m. at Gardiner Community Cemetery on Cemetery Road.

The annual service is held in a cemetery in which one-third of the graves are those of veterans, including that of Marvin G. Shields, the only Navy Seabee to receive a Medal of Honor.

The Sequim Veterans of Foreign Wars will host the ceremony.

A flag will be displayed at each veteran’s gravesite.

For more information, phone Martin at 360-797-7515.

JOYCE

— A ceremony is planned at Port Crescent Pioneer Cemetery near Salt Creek at 11 a.m.

The keynote speaker will be Kathleen Walton of Joyce, who is the widow of a retired Navy veteran.

Crescent High School Associated Student Body President and National Honor Society President Matthew Waldrip also will speak.

The opening prayer will be led by the Rev. Greg Reynolds of Joyce Bible Church.

Taps will be performed by David Johnson.

Refreshments will follow.

JEFFERSON COUNTY

— A special presentation in Port Townsend of some of the personal effects of Marvin Shields, the only Navy Seabee to be awarded the Medal of Honor, will be made to the American Legion Post 26 during a Memorial Day ceremony today.

Shields’ widow, Joan Bennett, and her husband, Dick, will present some of Shields’ personal effects to members of post at 209 Monroe St., which is named in Shields’ honor.

Prior to the noon program at the post hall, ceremonies are planned at several cemeteries this morning.

Ceremonies will begin at 10 a.m. at Fort Worden Military Cemetery and then move to St. Mary’s Catholic Cemetery at 10:30 a.m. and Laurel Grove Cemetery at 11 a.m.

At the American Legion Hall, the Memorial Day commemoration will begin at 11:30 a.m. with a 30-minute performance by the Port Townsend Summer Band, which will open with “America the Beautiful” and the National Emblem March.

Services will start a half-hour later with the advance of the colors, the Pledge of Allegiance and the national anthem sung by Selena Espinoza.

In addition to the presentation of Shield’s effects, Bill Carpentier will lead a re-enactment of Shields’ posthumous induction into the Veterans Administration Puget Sound Health Care System’s “Wall of Heroes” in Seattle.

Shields and fellow Vietnam War veteran Lemanuel “Lee” Jones were recognized during a formal ceremony on Veterans Day last year.

The ceremony will include a prayer by post chaplain David Harrah and the Port Townsend Summer Band’s rendition of the hymn “Eternal Father, Strong to Save,” as well as the Song of the Seabees.

Following a benediction by Harrah, the band will offer more music, and then a wreath-laying detail will depart for the city dock for a wreath-laying ceremony with Marjorie Carpentier.

The Post 26 Auxiliary will host a potluck afterward.

For more information, phone the post at 360-385-3454.

All events are open to the public.

— 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 and James Reynolds.

For more information, phone John or Dalila Dowd at 360-796-4001.

— A Memorial Day ceremony is planned at 3 p.m. at Greenwood Cemetery in Chimacum.

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 and Elks Lodge members also will participate.

After the ceremony, a potluck 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.

FORKS

— Cub Scouts, Girls Scouts and Camp Fire members will conduct a Memorial Day program in Forks at noon.

The program will begin at the Forks City Hall, 500 E. Division St., said Rod Fleck, a parent coordinator who also the city attorney.

A wreath will be laid at the veterans memorial at Forks City Hall and also at the Blue Star marker at the Forks Transit Center, 551 S. Forks Ave., Fleck said.

Paul Hampton, commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9106 in Forks, said that members of the VFW Post, as well as of the Forks Elks Club, and others plan to attend.