Memorial Day events scheduled for weekend

James Mayse, Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, Ky.
·3 min read

Owensboro and Daviess County will commemorate Memorial Day with a weekend of events, in recognition of the sacrifices military veterans have made for the nation.

Veterans organizations, churches, Glenn Family Services’ Memorial Gardens and the city/county veterans affairs organization will host events each day beginning Friday evening.

“Owensboro is great about supporting veterans,” said Pam Smith-Wright, president of the Owensboro-Daviess County Veterans Organization.

At 4 p.m. Friday, the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 696 will hold a “Flanders Fields” ceremony at the post at 311 Veterans Blvd. The event will include a Color Guard, the playing of “Taps” and a reading of names of Daviess County residents who served in World War II, said Veterans Organization member Jessie Hettinger.

“So many of them served from Daviess County,” Hettinger said.

On Saturday, a Memorial Day service will be held at 10:30 a.m. at Greenwood Cemetery of Leitchfield Road. Greenwood is the resting place of over 2,300 members of the city’s Black community, including 108 who served in the armed forces.

Smith-Wright will be a featured speaker at the Greenwood ceremony.

At 2 p.m. Saturday, Glenn Family Services will hold its annual Memorial Day service at Owensboro Memorial Gardens, 5050 Kentucky 144. Betty Medley Wallace, coordinator of grief support and community care, said the event will include music by the Owensboro Community Band, local Christian singer Clint Campbell and others, bag pipes and an address from U.S. Army veteran Tyler Russelburg.

“Our Field of Honor is beautiful,” Wallace said. In preparation for the event, flags have been placed on the 1,825 veterans’ graves at the site, Wallace said.

Sunday’s services begin at 1 p.m., with the American Legion James L. Yates Post 9 Memorial Day observance, at “Veterans’ Triangle” in Elmwood Cemetery. The service members laid to rest were American Legion members at one time, and the Post maintains the property and provides burials for members who can’t afford burial services.

At 5 p.m. Sunday, Utica Baptist Church will hold a service and flag presentation in honor of veterans, Hettinger said.

The Owensboro-Daviess County Veterans Organization will hold its annual service at 11 a.m. Monday, Memorial Day, at the veterans monument at the Owensboro Sportscenter. Smith-Wright said the names of all local veterans who have died in the past year will be read.

Hettinger said roses will be given to family members of veterans who have passed since last year’s ceremony at the Sportscenter.

The city’s Memorial Day remembrances will end with a “Seaside Service” at 1 p.m. at the VFW Post 696 on Veterans Boulevard. The ceremony, which includes the laying of a wreath in the Ohio River, is in honor of all service members who died at sea.

Memorial Day, Hettinger said, is important.

“I really think all people should know this is a way we have of thanking veterans for their service,” Hettinger said.