When residents and public officials pause to remember the fallen on Memorial Day this Monday, they will be doing so in a much more traditional fashion.
While most communities on the North Shore held their ceremonies virtually last year, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, many have opted to return to in-person ceremonies in 2021, just days after the state was set to fully reopen.
Locally, Marblehead, Nahant, Peabody, Saugus and Swampscott will hold live ceremonies. However, out of an abundance of caution, Lynn, Lynnfield and Salem have opted to once again honor their fallen virtually, either with a pre-recorded event or one that will be streamed live.
“I’m really looking forward to moving forward to a time where we can all really join together in bigger groups and bigger numbers,” said Lynn-Swampscott Veterans Services Director Michael Sweeney. “It’s good to be able to do something to honor the fallen.”
In Lynn, Sweeney said the city’s veterans services department is hosting a pre-recorded virtual ceremony which will be online at lynntv.org and posted on Lynn Community Television’s social media pages.
The 40-minute program will also be streamed on Channel 22 for Comcast customers and Channel 37 for residents with Verizon Monday at noon and 9 p.m.; Wednesday at 8 p.m.; Thursday at 4 p.m.; and Friday at 8 a.m.
One of the more poignant parts of the program will include the reading of more than 400 names of fallen veterans. Lynn native Brig. Gen. Andrea Gayle-Bennett, an Iraq veteran and the first female, African-American colonel in the Army National Guard, is the guest speaker.
A field of flags for Lynn’s fallen — which was installed over Armed Forces weekend in early May — is on display in the sunken gardens at Pine Grove Cemetery. The display is open to the public and will remain at the cemetery throughout the weekend.
While the city’s official Memorial Day ceremony is virtual this year, The Knights of Columbus is hosting a public prayer service Monday at noon on the Lynn Commons, across the street from the public library.
In Swampscott, two ceremonies will be held on consecutive days over the weekend, Sweeney said.
At 1 p.m. Sunday, the Military Friends Foundation is hosting a wreath-laying ceremony and reception for Massachusetts’ fallen veterans since 9/11. On display during the ceremony — which will be held in front of Swampscott Town Hall — will be a “Field of Heroes” which includes the photos, names and brief biographies of those veterans.
The town will host its official Memorial Day ceremony Monday at 11 a.m. at the Swampscott cemetery. Town resident and Brig. Gen. Mike Finer, an Iraq veteran, is the guest speaker.
Two Swampscott soldiers who died in the Iraq War, Jennifer Harris and Jared Raymond, will be honored at both events. Ray Harris, Jennifer’s father, and Jaclyn Raymond, Jared’s mother, are expected to attend, Sweeney said.
Saugus will hold its event at 10 a.m. at Riverside Cemetery.
Steve Castinetti, commander of the Saugus Veterans Council and a retired U.S. Navy captain, said this year’s Memorial Day ceremony will be much larger than in previous years, with a speech by keynote speaker Sgt. Major Kenneth Oswald, who heads the Lynn English High JROTC, and a bagpipes performance.
“It should be an important holiday everywhere,” Castinetti said. “There have been so many sacrifices made over the years so that we can live the life we live, and it’s a shame that Memorial Day is only once a year because these folks gave up their lives for our freedoms.”
He added this holiday is particularly important because it marks the 100th anniversary of the completion of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Washington, D.C.
“100 years ago is when they interred the remains of a World War I soldier, and (since) then they’ve added World War II, Korea and Vietnam,” Castinetti said.
Nahant’s event will take place in-person at the Green Lawn Cemetery at 11 a.m.
Because last year’s ceremony was a pre-recorded event meant for residents to watch online, Town Administrator Antonio Barletta said the names of veterans the town lost in 2020 will be read again, in addition to the names of veterans lost in 2021.
There will be roughly 10 names in total, he said.
“Memorial Day was the first major public event to be canceled last year due to the public health emergency,” Barletta said. “It was heartbreaking that we couldn’t come together to remember those who have served our country and have passed away.
“We are thrilled we’ll be able to gather publicly this year and properly honor our fallen veterans.”
In Marblehead, volunteers will place flags on veterans’ graves at Waterside Cemetery on West Shore Drive, starting at 9 a.m. Saturday at the bell tower. All members of the community are welcome to participate.
A small ceremony will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday at Star of the Sea Cemetery on Lafayette Street.
There will be no Memorial Day parade this year due to the pandemic, but there will be a live service at Memorial Park at 10 a.m. Monday. The principal speaker will be former Marblehead Selectmen Harry Christensen, USMC.
U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton, a Marine Corps veteran who served four tours of duty in Iraq, has said he plans to attend Monday’s events in Marblehead — where he grew up — and Nahant. In Marblehead, he will join the Glover’s Regiment in marching from the Old Town House to Memorial Park to join in the ceremony.
Peabody’s Memorial Day remembrance will be held on Monday, May 31 at 10 a.m. at Cedar Grove Cemetery followed by the 11:30 a.m. remembrance in front of City Hall, 27 Lowell St.
For a second straight year in Lynnfield, there will be no formal, in-person Memorial Day observation on the Town Common. Instead the celebration will once again be held virtually. The link is: https://vimeo.com/556229914.
In Salem, no live attendance will be allowed at this year’s ceremony, which will be held at noon Monday, but the community is invited to watch the event live on the city’s Facebook page or on Salem Access Television.
The event’s speakers will include Mayor Kimberley Driscoll and state Sen. Joan Lovely, and will feature music by the Salem High School band, a vacant chair ceremony and a plaque unveiling.
Item writers Elyse Carmosino, Allysha Dunnigan and Tréa Lavery contributed to this report.
