This year the battleship will welcome guest of honor and key note speaker Brigadier General Robert F. Castellvi, Commanding General, Marine Corps Installations, East/Commander, Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune.
The event will conclude with military musical arrangements provided by the 440th NC Army National Guard Band and a 21-gun salute.
Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in service of the United States of America.
Regardless of the exact date or location of its origins, one thing is clear – Memorial Day was borne out of the Civil War and a desire to honor our dead. It was officially proclaimed on 5 May 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, in his General Order No. 11. “The 30th of May, 1868, is designated for the purpose of strewing with flowers, or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country during the late rebellion, and whose bodies now lie in almost every city, village and hamlet churchyard in the land,” he proclaimed. The date of Decoration Day, as he called it, was chosen because it wasn’t the anniversary of any particular battle.
On the first Decoration Day, General James Garfield made a speech at Arlington National Cemetery, and 5,000 participants decorated the graves of the 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers buried there.
Thank you to all who have served and continue to serve.
