The Captain Joseph House in Port Angeles will remember fallen soldiers at 4 p.m. Monday.
The 12 annual ceremony will be outdoors at the house at 1108 S. Oak St., “honoring all fallen heroes, the men and women who served and died on American and foreign soil in pursuit of Freedom and Peace,” according to its poster.
The Captain Joseph House, the only respite center in the United States for families who have lost loved ones in combat since 9/11, opened for its first families last October, nine years after the ground was broken for the facility.
Betsy Reed Schultz led the work to renovate her bed and breakfast into a one-of-a-kind respite center for Gold Star families as she grieved the death of her only son in combat. Army Captain Joseph Schultz was killed at the age of 36 in Afghanistan on May 29, 2011, when his Humvee was hit by an improvised explosive.
Other memorial services are planned across the North Olympic Peninsula on Monday.
Port Angeles
Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 6787, Carlsborg will present a public ceremony at Mt. Angeles Memorial Park at 9:30 a.m. Monday.
The ceremony will include Dungeness Composite Squadron Honor Guard, a unit of Civil Air Patrol on the North Olympic Peninsula; Port Angeles Post 29 Legion Riders Flag Line; and Post 6787 Commander, Rod Lee of the Veterans of Foreign Wars leading the ceremonial ritual.
Various nonprofit organizations are invited to lay a remembrance wreath.
“Memorial Day is a sacred day to all veterans,” said Post 6787 Commander Rod Lee. “By honoring the nation’s war dead, we preserve their memory by honoring their service and sacrifice.”
Members of the public were asked to help place and honor over 1,500 small U.S. flags at gravesites today, starting at 8 a.m. at Ocean View Cemetery, 3127 W. 18th St., Port Angeles and at 9.a.m. at Mt. Angeles Memorial Park, 45 Monroe Road, Port Angeles. Public and family member assistance is asked in picking up the flags from gravesites after 4 p.m. Monday.
Organizers of the ceremony reminded the public that “the Memorial Day Ceremony is a day to remember fallen soldiers, a day that calls both for solemn reflection and for patriotic celebration.”
Flags should be flown at half-staff from sunrise until noon, and then raised to the top of the pole until sunset, in honor of the sacrifices made by our nation’s heroes, organizers said.
Sequim
American Legion Post 62 will be the lead for Memorial Day services, starting at 11 a.m. Monday at Sequim View Cemetery, 1505 Sequim-Dungeness Way. They will be assisted by VFW Post 4760.
American Legion members will then hold short ceremonies at Jamestown Cemetery (end of Jake Hall Road) at noon, Dungeness Cemetery (2153 Lotzgesell Road) at 12:45 p.m., and Blue Mountain Cemetery (1986 Blue Mountain Road) at 1:30 p.m.
VFW post 4760 will hold a ceremony at Gardiner Cemetery, 137 Gardiner Cemetery Road, at 12:30 p.m. This is where Medal of Honor recipient Marvin Shields is buried. The public is welcome to attend all ceremonies.
Flags will be set out on veterans graves at Sequim View and Dungeness cemeteries at 9 a.m. on Saturday, May 27, and recovered at 4 p.m. on Monday, May 29.
Forks
American Legion Post 106 will conduct a Memorial Day Ceremony at 11 a.m. Monday in the Forks Cemetery on Cemetery Avenue.
The public is invited to attend.
Port Townsend
The Marvin G. Shields Memorial Post 26 American Legion, Elks Lodge 317 and the Bruce F. Matheson Post 7498 Veterans of Foreign Wars will conduct wreath-laying ceremonies at East Jefferson County cemeteries on Monday.
Honor guards and flag lines will be present and will fire rifle salutes and play taps.
The schedule for services is:
• Fort Worden Cemetery, 1300-1398 W St., Port Townsend, at 9 a.m.
• Laurel Grove Cemetery, Cemetery Street, Port Townsend, at 9:30 a.m.
• St. Mary’s Cemetery, San Juan Avenue and 42nd Street, Port Townsend, at 10 a.m.
• Chimacum Cemetery, 9099 state Highway 19, Chimacum, at 11 a.m.
These ceremonies will be followed at 11:30 a.m. by a concert by the Port Townsend Summer Band at the Legion Hall, 209 Monroe St., Port Townsend.
A Memorial Day program will begin at noon at the Legion Hall with a call to order, the advance of the Colors, Pledge of Allegiance, National Anthem, an opening prayer, the Missing In Action table ceremony, a hymn, Memorial Day address, a medley of service song medley, a closing prayer, sounding of taps and post-ceremony music.
A wreath-laying ceremony at City Dock, next to Pope Marine Park will follow the ceremonies at the Legion Hall.
The services will conclude with a potluck luncheon in the Legion Hall from, approximately, 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Attendees are asked to bring some food for the lunch.
