Memorial Day ceremony moves indoors
Published 5:39 pm Monday, May 27, 2024
- Smithfield High student Tristan Walker plays taps as a Veterans of Foreign Wars rifle squad prepares to fire a salute. (Photos by Stephen Faleski | The Smithfield Times)
American Legion Post 49, for the second year in a row, held its Memorial Day ceremony indoors at the Smithfield Center as rain poured outside. Retired Army Lt. Col. Peter Badoian, Smithfield High School’s Junior ROTC instructor, was this year’s keynote speaker.
The holiday that for many marks the start of the summer season “is a day for both grief and celebration,” Badoian said, who noted he was fortunate not to be deployed to a combat zone and “never had to witness the loss of my brothers and sisters in arms.”
Del. Otto Wachsmann, R-Sussex, whose legislative district includes Isle of Wight County, and Smithfield Mayor Steve Bowman, also delivered remarks. Wachsmann noted Memorial Day began shortly after the Civil War.
The event included performances by the Smithfield High School band and Choraliers, and a rifle volley salute to the fallen by Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 8545 members on the Smithfield Center balcony overlooking the Pagan River.
-
- The Smithfield High School Junior ROTC color guard presents the American and state flags.
-
- Post Commander Jerry Starling delivers remarks.
-
- The Smithfield High School band performs patriotic music.
-
- American Legion Post 49 Commander Jerry Starling salutes the flag as the Smithfield High School Choraliers perform “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
-
- Del. Otto Wachsmann, R-Sussex, delivers remarks. Wachsmann’s district includes Isle of Wight County.
-
- Smithfield Mayor Steve Bowman delivers remarks.
-
- Retired Army Lt. Col. Peter Badoian, Junior ROTC instructor at Smithfield High, delivers remarks as the ceremony’s keynote speaker.
-
- The Smithfield High School Choraliers perform under the direction of Katie West, an Air Force veteran.
-
- Joe Grocki of American Legion Post 49 tolls the bell once for each American war since 1775.
-
- Steve Stahl, Ron Fravel, Gary Cassell and David Mines, an Army veteran and adjunct professor at Paul D. Camp Community College, fire a salute to fallen troops.
-
- American Legion Post 49 member Herb DeGroft bows as Chaplain Charlie More delivers the invocation.
-
- American Legion Post 49 Auxiliary Vice President Shelly Starling, at right, and President Elizabeth Shepherd, serve hamburgers and hotdogs at the Post after the ceremony.
