SIDNEY — Area Memorial Day observances will begin Saturday as early as 7:45 a.m. when Boy and Girl Scouts, service organization members and community volunteers decorate the graves of deceased veterans in cemetaries throughout the region.
Scouts and others will mark 1,389 graves with flags and potted geraniums in Graceland Cemetery in Sidney. Rendering honors to the flag and the playing of the national anthem will be led by Boy Scouts at 8 a.m.
Sunday ceremonies
• At 12:30 p.m. in the Cedar Point Cemetery, the Post 217 firing squad and honor guard will welcome a guest speaker who has not yet been named.
• At 1:30 p.m. in the Glenn Cemetery in Port Jefferson, the Post 217 firing squad and honor guard will welcome a guest speaker who has not yet been named.
Monday ceremonies
• Harold Krieg, a Vietnam veteran of the U.S. Marines, will speak during ceremonies on the courtsquare in downtown Sidney, which will continue later at Graceland Cemetery. American Legion Post 217 Commander Rick Lunsford will call the ceremonies to order on the courtsquare at 9 a.m. Sidney Mayor Mike Barhorst and the Shelby County commissioners will offer a welcome. Boy Scout Troop 97 will lead the Pledge of Allegiance. Pastor Jonathon Schriber will offer an invocation.
U.S. Marine Corps Vietnam veteran Bill Ross III will read General Logan’s orders, Gold Star Wife Carleen Pettit and Gold Star Mother Dorothy Lochard will lay a wreath and the Post 217 firing squad will present a rifle salute.
A Sidney high school student, unnamed at press time, will play taps.
Krieg is a life member of American Legion Post 241 in New Bremen, Disabled American Veterans and VFW Post 9019. He is a member of Western Ohio Detachment 923 Marine Corps League, Voiture Locale 984 40-8, and Post 241 firing squad. He served two years in the U.S. Marines, including 13 months in Vietnam. Krieg is a mechanical technician at Crown Equipment Corp., where he has been employed for 49 years.
At the cemetery, Lunsford will call the assembly to order. Schriber will lead a prayer and World War II veteran Carl Zimmerman will read Lincoln’s Gettysburg address. Flowers and wreaths will be presented by various service organizations. The legion firing squad will present a second rifle salute, and the student will conclude the ceremonies with the playing of taps.
• A service in Pearl Cemetery, 11095 County Road 25-A North, will begin at noon.
• There will be a guest speaker during observances coordinated by American Legion Post 241 in the post hall, 06458 state Route 66, New Bremen at 11 a.m. The New Bremen High School band will perform. and the legion, legion auxiliary and sons of the legion will lay wreaths.
