Annual observation recognizes those who have died in service of their country over the past 160 years

It began in 1868, a few years after the end of the Civil War, when the veterans organization Grand Army of the Republic designated a day in May to decorate the graves of those fallen in the war between the states.

The tradition of Memorial Day, originally named Decoration Day and officially recognized in 1971 as a national holiday, was later expanded to honor all American military personnel who died in defense of the nation.

This year will be no different as Newberg and other communities join in the solemn ceremonies.

Veterans of Foreign War Post 4015 of Greater Yamhill County and Lester Reese Post 57 of the American Legion will join forces with the Newberg-Dundee Police Department and the Chehalem Park and Recreation District to stage the annual Memorial Day observance at 11 a.m. Monday, May 26, at Memorial Park.

A release from George Edmonston Jr., a Navy veteran and commander of the American Legion post, says the program for the event will include songs sung by members of the Newberg chapter of the American Heritage Girls, the traditional recitation from memory of President Abraham Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address” by retired police Sgt. Tim Weaver and a reading of John McCrae’s “In Flanders Fields,” an ode to the American soldiers who died during the Second Battle of Ypres in Flanders, Belgium, during World War I.

In addition, a pair of local VFW/American Legion veterans will speak, flowers will be presented by various groups and the names of those soldiers that fell in battle spanning from the Spanish-American to the Vietnam wars will be read. A pair of local police officers will erect the American flag and the seven-member firing squad will shoulder their M1 Garands to perform the 21-gun salute as well.

A tasty barbecue courtesy of Newberg icon Gem 100 will follow the ceremony.

As has become custom, the somber event will actually begin hours earlier when  VFW and American Legion posts, along with Boy Scout troops, will be escorted by the Legion Riders motorcycle club to Valley View Cemetery, Dundee Pioneer Cemetery, Noble Pioneer Cemetery, Gibbs Cemetery and Friends Cemetery to honor a veteran who represents all the veterans in each cemetery. Taps will be played, and a 21-gun salute will follow.