Confederate memorial service Sunday
By Andrew Bell
Published in News on May 15, 2007 1:45 PM
From staff reports
The Sons of Confederate Veterans will hold its annual memorial service at Willowdale Cemetery Sunday afternoon.
The event, which also involves the Harper House United Daughters of the Confederacy of Bentonville, B.T. Persons Camp 1517 of Fremont and the Goldsboro Rifles Camp 760, will begin at 2 p.m. at the cemetery. The service was first held in 1883.
The cemetery is the final resting place for many Union and Confederate soldiers who died at the nearby battles of Bentonville and Goldsborough Bridge. One mass grave at the cemetery holds 800 bodies.
Although those Civil War soldiers who were buried at Willowdale will be honored, the memorial service is for Wayne County veterans of all wars.
East Carolina University professor Mike Parker will be the guest speaker.
The memorial service is free to the public.