MOSES LAKE — Memorial Day weekend is here, and along with all the fun and festivities that accompany a three-day weekend, some Basin residents will be gathering on Monday for a more solemn occasion.

“Memorial Day (is) not about war, it’s about people,” Jane Montaney, of the Art Semro American Legion Post 28 Auxiliary, wrote in an email to the Columbia Basin Herald. “They died, most of them young, serving their fellow Americans, their country, future generations – all of us.”

Art Semro Post 28, based in Ephrata, will hold ceremonies at the cemeteries in Ephrata, Soap Lake and Quincy. The Quincy ceremony will also feature a performance by the Veterans Operation Creation Choir, VOC member Tom Parrish said.

In Moses Lake, there will be a Forgotten Heroes memorial at 10 a.m. at the Grant County International Airport sponsored by Million Air, to remember the 87 servicemen who died in a plane crash Dec. 20, 1952, at what was then Larson Air Force Base. The Moses Lake High School Air Force Junior ROTC students will serve as color guard.

Pioneer Memorial Gardens in Moses Lake will hold a memorial at 11 a.m. with an honor guard, a three-round volley and a short ceremony, according to owner Susan Freeman. More than 1,000 veterans are buried there, she said.

The Othello Veterans of Foreign Wars post will hold its memorial at 11 a.m. at Bess Hampton Memorial Gardens. The Othello High School choir will perform, and there will be a guest speaker, according to Post Quartermaster Eric Morgan.

Because these events are put on by volunteers, there’s always a need for more hands to put out flags and then gather them in at the end of the day.

“We’ll have about 114 staff flags and over 400 grave flags,” Morgan said. “And we depend on volunteers to get all this set up.”

The VFW puts out the flagpoles at 6 p.m. on Sunday and raises the flags and distributes the grave flags at 6 a.m. Monday morning, Morgan said.

“Anybody who wants to come help with that is welcome to,” he said.

Those who can’t get to a ceremony on Monday are still invited to join in the National Moment of Remembrance, Montaney wrote.

“At 3 p.m., simply stop what you are doing and think for one minute about those who died for your freedom,” Montaney wrote. “If you are driving, turn on your vehicle’s headlights. As you participate in the National Moment of Remembrance, you are helping reclaim Memorial Day for the noble purpose for which it was established – to honor those who died in service to our Nation. It is a minute of reflection that everyone can spare.”

Memorial Day originated during and immediately after the Civil War, as communities in both the North and the South gathered to remember the fallen of that war and to decorate their graves, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. It was formalized in 1868 as Decoration Day by Grand Army of the Republic General John Logan. The date was set as May 30, when fresh flowers would be readily available, according to the VA’s website. It was officially recognized by the federal government in 1950 and moved to the last Monday of May by the Uniform Monday Holiday Act in 1971.

“This Memorial Day, please pause with Americans at home and abroad to honor the men and women who died so that we might enjoy the gift of freedom,” Montaney wrote. “Let us never forget their sacrifice.”

Remembrances

Moses Lake: 11 a.m. at Pioneer Memorial Gardens, 14403 Road 2 NE, Moses Lake.

Forgotten Heroes: 10 a.m. at Grant County International Airport, 7810 Andrews St. NE, Moses Lake

Soap Lake: 10 a.m., Valley View Memorial Park, 20174 Road A NE

Ephrata: 11 a.m., 333 E Street SW

Othello: 11 a.m. at Bess Hampton Cemetery, 1915 E. Cemetery St.

Quincy: 12:30 p.m. at Quincy City Cemetery, Seventh Avenue and F Street Southwest

    Memorial Day ceremonies will honor the fallen at cemeteries around the Columbia Basin including Bess Hampton Memorial Gardens in Othello, shown here.