The 60th Annual Commonwealth’s Memorial Day Ceremony will be held Monday, May 30 at ten o’clock at the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond.
Speakers will include Virginia Secretary of Veterans and Defense Affairs John C. Harvey, Jr. and James E. Chapman, Commander, Department of Virginia, American Legion. The ceremony, co-hosted with the American Legion District 11, takes place in the E. Bruce Heilman Amphitheater and the Shrine of Memory on the War Memorial grounds.
The public is encouraged to attend to honor and remember family, friends, and fellow citizens who have made the ultimate sacrifice in military service. Also participating in the program will be Delegate John M. Bannon III, chair of the Virginia War Memorial Board, Terry Kris Brentlinger, Commander, American Legion, District 11, and Virginia War Memorial Executive Director Jon Hatfield.
Music will be provided by the Army Band, Fort Lee, and the St. Andrew’s Legion Pipes and Drums. The National Anthem will be sung by Bethany Gates.
The ceremony will conclude in the War Memorial’s Shrine of Memory with the presentation of over forty memorial wreathes, a rifle salute by the James S. Slay Detachment, #329 Marine Corps League, and the playing of “Echo Taps” by John Blair and Dr. Tommy South of Bugles Across America.
The Virginia War Memorial, located at 621 South Belvidere Street, will be open extended hours from nine to serve on Memorial Day. Admission is free. Limited parking is available in the Memorial lot, in the VHDA lot and deck next door, and in the Afton Chemical Corporation lot on Spring Street between and Belvidere and 1st Streets.
The public is also invited to enjoy a free concert of patriotic music performed by the Thomas Jefferson High School Corps of Cadets Alumni Band at 2 p.m. and to tour the exhibits and experience the films shown in the Memorial’s Paul and Phyllis Galanti Education Center all day.
For more information, please call 804.786.2060 or visit www.vawarmemorial.org .
