Here’s are some places where you can commemorate Memorial Day in the South Sound
With roughly half of all Washingtonians safely vaccinated against COVID-19, many organizations are resuming in-person events for the Memorial Day holiday.
In Puyallup’s Pioneer Park Pavilion, the Puyallup Valley Veterans of Foreign Wars post will host a traditional remembrance program starting at 1 p.m. Monday. State Rep. Kelly Chambers, R-Puyallup, will speak and the Puyallup Brass Quintet will provide music along with the Clan Gordon Pipe Band. The hour-long program is and indoors, so it will continue to rain or shine.
Mountain View Memorial Park in Lakewood will host a tribute with the Pierce County Veterans Advisory Council. The event begins at 2 p.m. Monday and is open to in-person guests. It also will be livestreamed for those who cannot attend.
A quintet from Joint Base Lewis-McChord will provide music, and Lt. Col. Duke Reim will give the keynote presentation. The Buffalo Soldiers Mounted Cavalry will perform a special reenactment.
Mountain View also was to hold a flag-laying ceremony on Saturday, May 29.
Monday also marks the return of the Wear Blue Run to Remember Memorial Day Run for the Fallen event. The organization, founded by Gold Star widow and Seattle native Lisa Hallett, says it uses running as therapy and pairs Gold Star children with running mentors.
When you register online for Monday’s run, you will be assigned a fallen service member, so you can “purposely take steps in his or her honor,” according to the organization.
While many organizations are hosting in-person events, JBLM will not. Instead, JBLM leaders and service members will honor America’s fallen in a pre-recorded ceremony at the Camp Lewis Cemetery. The recorded ceremony will be available to watch on JBLM’s Facebook.
Far from Tacoma, JBLM’s C-17 West Coast Demo Team will participate in the National Salute to America’s Heroes Air and Sea Show in Miami, Florida. A video posted on the 62nd Airlift Wing Facebook page shows a team from JBLM arriving in Miami on Friday.
This story was originally published May 29, 2021 at 12:00 AM.
