With Memorial Day just two and a half weeks away, veterans’ organizations are finalizing plans for parades in both towns.
Ahead of the Monday, May 30 observances, Boy and Girl Scout troops will be placing flags on veterans’ graves and Whitman’s Duval School will be holding its annual “We Remember Ceremony” on Friday, May 27. Duval pupils, their families and school staff will gather in the school gym at 9:30 a.m., along with invited town officials, veterans and members of the Duval family, for a program of patriotic music, student poetry and honors for deceased veterans.
On Memorial Day itself, parades and memorial ceremonies for those fallen in service to country are the focus of a morning full of events.
The 149th annual Whitman Memorial Day Parade forms at 8:45 a.m. at the corner of Park Avenue and Court Street. The parade steps off at 9:30 a.m.
Marchers make their way along South Avenue to the Town Hall for ceremonies at the Honor Roll and then up Temple Street to the World War I Memorial Arch and then along a route to Colebrook Cemetery for ceremonies followed by programs at the Whitman Park flag pole, the Civil War Soldiers Monument and at the Veterans Monument for All Wars near the park pond for concluding ceremonies.
In Hanson, units including the WHRHS marching band, veterans’ groups, color guards, civic leaders, antique cars, horse, clowns and youth groups gather at Indian Head School for a ceremony and 10 a.m. parade start.
The parade heads down Liberty Street to the Town Hall green for ceremonies at the Civil War Monument, after which the parade re-forms and proceeds to Fern Hill Cemetery for the main presentation ceremonies and a keynote address. Hanson’s parade and related events conclude at 11 a.m.
Hanson Scouts are scheduled to place flags on veterans’ graves on Tuesday, May 17 at Fern Hill. Should a flag and/or appropriate marker be missed, families of veterans are asked to call the Veterans’ Agent at 781-293-2772 after May 17 so arrangements may be made.
The Hanson Veterans’ Services office reminds families of deceased veterans that they are eligible to receive, at no cost, a printed Presidential Memorial Certificate, a plastic grave marker commemorating the era and conflict in which the veteran served, and either an upright headstone or flat grave marker commemorating the veteran’s service branch, name, rank, birth date and year of death. For more information, contact the Hanson Veterans’ Agent.