By By MIKE VOSS
Contributing Editor
Memorial Day events are scheduled for Washington’s Veterans Park and the Cypress Landing community.
A Memorial Day observance begins at 11 a.m. Monday at Veterans Park on East Third Street in Washington. If it rains, the observance will move to American Legion Post 15 on Market Street Extension.
The observance, sponsored by Disabled American Veterans Chapter 48 and Disabled American Veterans Auxiliary Unit 48, has been a fixture in Beaufort County for years. The Rev. Frank Huffman, North Carolina Disabled American Veterans chaplain, will deliver the observance’s keynote address, said Melba Sayer, commander of the auxiliary unit.
“We urge people to come out and honor our war dead and veterans,” Sayer said.
All branches of the U.S. armed forces — Navy, Marine Corps, Army, Air Force, Coast Guard, National Guard and the Merchant Marine — will be recognized individually by Don Sayer, commander of the local DAV chapter.
The Army Junior ROTC unit at Washington High School and several veterans organizations such as the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars will present the colors during the observance.
Men ’n a Chord, a barbershop-style singing group, will sing three patriotic songs: “The Star-Spangled Banner,” “God Bless America” and “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” Bill Ebison, a former Marine and Vietnam veteran, will present a musical tribute to veterans.
A parade in Cypress Landing is scheduled to start at 11 a.m., said Lyn Sanders, who along with Kay Harris organized the event.
The parade starts on the road in front of the clubhouse at the Cypress Landing golf course, traverses Cypress Landing Trail, makes a right turn onto Potomac Drive and ends at the Bay Club, where a short program is scheduled before a picnic begins.
Sanders said the parade will include a color guard, Word War II veterans riding in convertibles, other veterans, a unicyclist, a quadricycle, a walkie-talkie group on foot, an EMS unit and a fire engine. A Cypress Landing resident who owns a small biplane will do a flyover just before the parade begins.
“It’s not a real long parade,” Sanders said.
As a prelude to Memorial Day observances, members of American Legion Auxiliary No. 15, the 82nd Airborne Division and the Washington Fire-Rescue-EMS-Inspections Department were to place American flags in Oakdale Cemetery, Cedar Hill Cemetery and Pamlico Memorial Gardens in Washington today.
American Legion Auxiliary Unit No. 15 also will distribute poppies and accept donations for them from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday at Dollar General, the Food Lion next to Kerr Drug and Piggly Wiggly at Washington Square Mall. In 1921, the American Legion Auxiliary adopted the poppy as its memorial flower.