The town has several Memorial Day weekend activities planned, beginning with a traditional veterans breakfast and culminating with a parade and wreath-laying ceremony.
The veterans breakfast, sponsored by the Masons, was held at the Council on Aging on Friday, May 26. On Saturday, the public placed flags on the graves of veterans at Waterside Cemetery, according to Veterans Agent Dave Rodgers.
On Sunday at 1 p.m., the VFW will hold a public veterans service at Star of the Sea Cemetery.
Then on Monday, all veterans are invited to muster at the Old Town House at 7:45 a.m. and walk together to State Street Landing.
“There’s a brief service there to honor the men and women who lost their lives at sea in the wars, including Merchant Marines,” Rodgers said. “We throw flowers in the water.”
Veterans meet back at the Old Town House at 8:45 a.m. and begin the traditional Memorial Day parade at 9 a.m. This year, the parade will feature Glover’s Regiment, fire trucks, marching bands and local leaders, according to Rodgers.
“All veterans are welcome to march,” he said. “They just show up.”
There will also be a trolley for vets who do not want to walk.
This year, the parade’s grand marshal is Dan Genis, 95, who served in the Navy during World War II.
“Dan is a former MHS teacher who taught English and German,” Rodgers said. “He joined [the Navy] right out of high school.”
The parade goes to Memorial Park on Pleasant Street, where there will be a ceremony. Congressman Seth Moulton will read the honor roll of veterans in Marblehead who passed away in the last year.
“We re-form the parade and go up to [Waterside] Cemetery, where we place 13 wreaths along the reflecting pond,” Rodgers said.
Another service will be held there.
For more information, contact Rodgers at rodgersd@marblehead.org.
Editor Leigh Blander is an experienced TV, radio and print journalist who has written hundreds of stories for local newspapers, including the Marblehead Reporter.