Marco Island American Legion Post 404 Memorial Day Ceremony

Marco Island’s American Legion Post 404 will be hosting a Memorial Day Ceremony at the Marco Island Veterans Community Park on May 27, 2024, at 11:00 AM to honor all America’s Heroes. Our theme this year will be the War on Terror from the Marine Barracks bombing in 1983 to today and the sacrifices our Veterans have made in defending our freedoms. All are welcome to participate in this celebration of our brave men and women who paid the ultimate price to defend our freedoms. The ceremony will be held at the Unity Bandshell. Please bring a chair. Covered seating will be provided for veterans.

Originally called Decoration Day, from the early tradition of decorating graves with flowers, wreaths and flags, Memorial Day is a day for remembrance of those who have died in service to our country. It was first widely observed on May 30, 1868, to commemorate the sacrifices of Civil War soldiers, by proclamation of Gen. John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic, an organization of former Union sailors and soldiers.

During that first national commemoration, former Union Gen. and sitting Ohio Congressman James Garfield made a speech at Arlington National Cemetery. “We do not know one promise these men made, one pledge they gave, one word they spoke; but we do know they summed up and perfected, by one supreme act, the highest virtues of men and citizens. For love of country, they accepted death, and thus resolved all doubts, and made immortal their patriotism and their virtue.” Following the speech, 5,000 participants helped to decorate the graves of the more than 20,000 Union and Confederate soldiers who were buried there. After World War I, it became an occasion for honoring those who died in all of America’s wars and was then more widely established as a national holiday throughout the United States. In 1971 it officially became a US Holiday and is now celebrated on the last Monday in May.

Post Chaplin and Navy Veteran Bill Duncan will speak on the War on Terror. He will be joined by Rick LoCastro, Collier County Commissioner District 1 and USAF Afghanistan Veteran who will discuss the sacrifices our men and women made during the conflict. The music performance will be by Rose Kramer and Lois Kehoe. Lee Rubenstein, Post 404 Commander, will be the Master of Ceremony (MC).