Massachusetts celebrates Memorial Day for the dead
More than 37,000 American flags are on display in Boston in honor of Memorial Day - each one symbolizing a service member from Massachusetts who died in the line of duty.
This tradition began in 2010. Now in its 15th year, dozens of volunteers drilled holes in the ground to plant the flag at the Soldiers and Sailors Monument. They did so last Thursday during a dedication ceremony when families of those who died in the wars since Sept. 11 read the names of their loved ones.
The flags will be on display until 5:30 p.m. Monday, and then they will be packed up in time for next year's Memorial Day weekend.
Other events will be held across Massachusetts on Monday to honor the fallen.
At 9 a.m., there will be a ceremony at the Massachusetts Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Winchendon, where Governor Maura Healey will deliver remarks and participate in a wreath-laying ceremony with John Santiago, Secretary of the Executive Office of Veterans Services.
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu will attend a number of events on Monday. She will speak at a service at the Gardens at Gethsemane Cemetery in West Roxbury at 9:30 a.m.; then she will speak at the annual Memorial Day service at Evergreen Cemetery in Brighton at 11 a.m.; at noon, she will speak at American Legion Post 76 in Jamaica Plain; and then at 12:45 p.m., she will speak at a wreath-laying ceremony at Puerto Rico Veterans Memorial Park in the South End.
The City of Everett is organizing its annual service at the Gold Star Pavilion at Glenwood Cemetery. It will feature remarks by Mayor Carlo DeMaria, State Senator Sal DiDomenico, State Representative Joe McGonagle, and a keynote address by an Air Force veteran.
A ceremony will be held in Cambridge. The Mayor, Vice Mayor and City Councilor Ayesha Wilson will be in attendance. Acting Cambridge DVS Director Cynthia Harris will lead the ceremony.
In Brooklyn, the Veterans Administration will hold a remembrance ceremony in front of City Hall at 11 am.
The Travis Manion Foundation, one of the nation's leading veterans' service organizations, will hold Project Honor, an annual tribute to fallen military personnel over Memorial Day weekend at Massachusetts National Cemetery in Buzzards Bay.
Cities and towns across the state are also holding their own Memorial Day parades.