Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Memorial Day Ceremony topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Pelham honors veterans and unveils new flagpole at Meeting House Park
Summary
Veterans groups and town leaders held a Memorial Day ceremony in Pelham featuring prayers, readings, wreath-layings, a Pelham High School Chorus performance and the inaugural raising of a flag at Meeting House Park, with organizers thanking donors and inviting the public to follow-up events.
Tom Snellers, commander of the John H. Hargrave Memorial Post 10722 of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, emceed a Memorial Day ceremony in Pelham that honored fallen service members and included the inaugural flag raising at Meeting House Park. The event at Veterans Park featured an invocation, the poem "In Flanders Fields," wreath-laying and a performance by the Pelham High School Chorus.
"May their sacrifice remind us that liberty remains incomplete," Reverend Carlos, the event chaplain, said during the invocation, calling for comfort for families of the fallen and for a commitment to peace. The ceremony also included a reading of "In Flanders Fields" presented at the request of the VFW auxiliary.
Organizers read the names of local veterans who died in World War II, Vietnam and Iraq, then conducted a wreath-laying sequence. Snellers announced logistical details for follow-up events: reassembly at the Daniel Giannett Bridge at 9:45 a.m., a wreath at the Town Hall KIA bench at 10:15 a.m., and the Gibson Cemetery ceremony at 11 a.m.
Shonene Takiskin, speaking for the Board of Selectmen, dedicated the new flagpole as a community symbol and thanked donors and volunteers who contributed to the project. "This flagpole now stands in the center of our community as a symbol of those values," Takiskin said, and praised the Pelham Police Relief Association, Pelham Council on Aging, Pelham Community Spirit, VFW Post 10722, the Pelham American Legion Post 100, DEM Electric, Heather Corbett (landscape design) and Boyden's Landscaping for their support.
Attendees were invited to stop by an exhibit at the Pelham Historical Society (located in the public library building) and to a post-ceremony cookout at American Legion Post 100. The ceremony closed with the Pelham High School Chorus and others performing "God Bless the USA." The emcee then dismissed the detail and directed attendees to the remainder of the day's observances.
No formal votes or official actions were recorded at the ceremony; the event served as a civic commemoration and a community gathering.
