Locals set to honor fallen
By Steve Herring
Published in News on May 20, 2015 1:46 PM
Nearly 4,000 small American flags will be placed on veterans' graves Saturday as Wayne County prepares to celebrate Memorial Day, said Bill Graham of the Wayne County Veterans and Patriots Coalition.
Observances will be held in Goldsboro and Mount Olive over the weekend.
Also, local, state and federal offices, banks and the post office will be closed Monday in observance of the holiday.
The Wayne County Memorial Day Service is sponsored by the Wayne County Veterans and Patriots Coalition.
4th Fighter Wing Vice Commander Col. Andrew Bernard will be the speaker at the Monday ceremony -- set to begin at 11 a.m. at Moffatt Auditorium on the Wayne Community College campus.
The Seymour Johnson Air Force Base Honor Guard will present the colors and several videos relating to Memorial Day will be shown.
Melissa Watkins, a retired Air Force major who lost her husband in Iraq, is the Gold Star representative this year.
But the program at the college is not the only one local residents can attend Monday.
An observance will also take place at the Wayne County Veterans Memorial -- where the 3 p.m. national Moment of Silence will be recognized by the sounding of taps.
Mrs. Watkins and her son and daughter will be placing the wreath during both the morning and afternoon ceremonies.
Mount Olive residents will have an opportunity to remember, too.
VFW Post 9959 and American Legion Post 103 will host a Memorial Day Service Sunday at 3 p.m. at the town's Veterans Memorial at the corner of West Main and North Chestnut streets.
The speaker will be Marine Corps League chaplain Bill Boyd of Goldsboro.
The Mar-Mac Fire Department Honor Guard will conduct a wreath-laying ceremony and the lowering of the flag to half staff.
The Rev. John Harrington and Post 103 Commander Zoe Mossberg will conduct a Post Everlasting ceremony honoring members who have died over the past year.
The ceremony is a symbolic transfer of a veteran's membership from the post to Post Everlasting which is considered heaven.
Taps will be played by Cindy Grant, Southern Wayne High School band director.
Refreshments will be served in the adjacent old train depot.
Events will get under way Saturday morning at 8 a.m. with the annual breakfast hosted by American Legion Post 11 on U.S 117 South.
At 9 a.m. representatives of the county's veterans organizations, Seymour Johnson Air Force Base airmen and Boy Scouts will begin to place the flags, Graham said.
Flags will be placed at Wayne Memorial Park, Wayne Memorial Park West, Elmwood, Evergreen and Willowdale cemeteries.
Post 11 will host a Post Everlasting ceremony Sunday at 2 p.m.
All of the events are free and open to the public.
Town halls will be closed Monday in Goldsboro, Mount Olive, Eureka, Fremont, Pikeville, Walnut Creek and Seven Springs.
In Goldsboro, sanitation services for Monday will be moved to Wednesday.
The Mount Olive recyclable center be closed as well.
Household garbage pickup will not be affected. However, yard waste collection will be delayed by a day. Monday's route will be picked up on Tuesday and Tuesday's route on Wednesday.
In Fremont, Monday's garbage route will be moved to Tuesday.
Carolina Southern Sanitation's services will not be affected by the holiday and will operate on a normal schedule.