Lexington will honor Memorial Day this year with a parade, ceremonies, dedications, and a review of some of the documents that constitute the very fibers of democracy in the United States.
It begins with a ceremony at 9 a.m. at Westview Cemetery on Bedford Street, followed by a parade beginning at the old School Administration Building (The White House) at 10 a.m. The parade will travel up Massachusetts Avenue to Munroe Cemetery (next to Muzzey High Condos), at which the Lexington Minute Men will place a memorial wreath at the grave of Thomas Cosgrove (1820-1912), a Medal of Honor winner.
At the cemetery gazebo, there will be a recitation of the Gettysburg Address and Gen. Logan’s orders of the day. The parade then moves back down Massachusetts Avenue to Cary Hall, where at about 10:30 a.m. wreaths will be placed at the Police Memorial and the Korean and Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
The parade will continue through Lexington Center to the memorials near the Visitors Center, which include the World War II Veterans Memorial and the All Soldiers Memorial. The parade will continue up Bedford Street to Harrington Road, where a wreath will be placed on Capt. John Parker’s grave a the Old Burying Ground.
From there, the parade finishes at the Battle Green. At about 11:20 a.m. the governor’s proclamation will be read, a wreath will be placed at the Revolutionary War monument, and Col. Russ Blaine, Director, Commander’s Staff, Electronic Systems Center at Hanscom Air Force Base, will give the address.
Col. Blaine is responsible for a broad range of policy, resource and personnel management, operations and acquisition duties.
The parade marshal is Sgt. Ian Edmonton, a Lexington resident who just recently returned to the area after completing six years of active duty Army service. Among his many duties, he was deployed as a senior intelligence analyst for 15 months in Iraq.
Organizers say the 2000 Lexington High School graduate is one of the youngest to ever marshal the Memorial Day parade. Even he was surprised at the honor, considering how recently he was deployed.
“I was really surprised to be asked in the first place,” Edmonton said. “For me, Memorial Day is more for the veterans of World War II and Vietnam; not for me yet."
At most sites, services will include a volley by the Lexington Minute Men and Taps and Echo by the Lexington High School Buglers.
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