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Wayoth mayor invites public to May 26 Memorial Day ceremony; five statues, memorial to be unveiled
Summary
Mayor Bob Hedland urged residents to attend Wayoth’s Memorial Day events on May 26, saying the ceremony at the Ralph Talbot Amphitheater will include unveilings of five statues honoring the city’s Medal of Honor recipients and a memorial to Richard Fitzgibbons Jr. and III.
Mayor Bob Hedland urged residents to attend Wayoth’s Memorial Day ceremony on May 26, saying the event will include unveilings honoring local military service and a musical performance.
Hedland, speaking from the memorial wall at the Ralph Talbot Amphitheater, said the city will unveil five statues recognizing its five Medal of Honor recipients and will also unveil a memorial to Richard Fitzgibbons Jr. and Richard Fitzgibbons III, a father-and-son pair who both died in the Vietnam War. "We're going to be unveiling uh five statues for our five Medal of Honor recipients," Hedland said. He added the town will unveil "a memorial to Richard Fitzgibbons Jr. and Richard Fitzgibbons III who are father-son tandem that both lost their lives in Vietnam." Hedland also said Richard Fitzgibbons Jr. is "recognized as the first casualty of the Vietnam War." These claims were presented by the mayor as historical context.
The program is scheduled to begin with cemetery services at 7:00, culminating in an 8:30 final salute at Colombian Square, and will include a community ceremony at the amphitheater at 11:00. The event will feature the United States Coast Guard band after the unveiling moments, Hedland said, and he described the ceremony as brief and family-friendly: "Come on out, bring a blanket, bring some refreshments and uh it'll be a beautiful day here."
An opening speaker, representing the Wayoth Veterans Council and the mayor's office, invited residents to participate and confirmed there will be no parade this year. "On behalf of the Wayoth Veterans Council and Mayor Hedland's office, I'd like to invite you to join us to recognize Memorial Day on May 26th," the presenter said.
The mayor framed the ceremony as part of the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War and said the community should take pride in the memorials and statues being unveiled. The city encouraged residents to attend the 11:00 amphitheater ceremony following the morning cemetery services. The presentation emphasized remembrance and local recognition of military service as the core purposes of the day.
