Events include American Flag placements to mark the graves of veterans and Memorial Day Services
Chapel Hill, NC -(May 21, 2024) - Memorial Day honors the men and women who lost their lives while serving in the U.S. military. The 2024 Orange County Memorial Day Ceremony will take place Monday, May 27, 8:45 am – 10 am at the Orange County Veterans Memorial Site. In case of rain, the service will move into the Southern Human Services Center (Seymour Center), 2501 Homestead Drive, Chapel Hill, NC.
The keynote speaker is Andréa Allard, Director of Transition Services for the North Carolina Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.
2024 Memorial Day Program
Call to Order
Mayor Mark Bell, Town of Hillsborough
Posting of Colors
Orange County Sheriff’s Office Color Guard under Chief Kevin L. Jones
Invocation
Pledge of Allegiance
Minister Robert Campbell, United States Navy Retired
Welcome
Mayor Barbara M. Foushee, Town of Carrboro
Special Recognitions | Gold Star Families, Branches of Military Service
Representative Valerie P. Foushee, US Congress, 4th District
Acknowledgments | Elected Officials, Dignitaries
James I. Merritt, United States Army, Vietnam
Introduction of Guest Speaker
Representative Renée A. Price, House District 50, NC General Assembly
Memorial Day Address
Andréa Allard, Director of Transition Services
NC Department of Military and Veterans Affairs
Update on Memorial & Announcements
Captain Bruce Runberg, United States Navy (Retired) Vietnam
Dedication of the Wreath
Jeff McNeill, US Army, Gulf War
Music and Song in Memoriam
Derone McNeill
Laying of the Wreath
Andréa Allard and Jesse Torres, United States Marine Corps
Taps
Edward H. Gill, American Legion Post 6
Conclusion with refreshments provided by Orange County.
Andréa Allard, Director of Transition Services for the North Carolina Department of Military and Veterans Affairs
About the speaker: Born in Germany to a US Army officer and his German bride after WWII, Andréa Allard comes from a family of military service. Her older brother is a retired CW4 who flew helicopters in the Army, her sister was a Russian linguist, and Andrea was a Polish linguist/Interrogator and Psychological warfare specialist. She enlisted in the Army in 1983 and was discharged honorably in 1986 with the impending birth of her first son. Andréa is a mother of 2 sons, Zac and Sam, and is married to Don, a disabled US Marine Corps veteran she met while at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California. After spending the next 20 years raising and homeschooling her children, she went back into the workforce. She worked part-time in retail while obtaining her bachelor’s degree in Psychology and her master’s in Human Services Counseling: Marriage and Family. When her husband became unable to continue working due to his disabilities, Andréa started working fulltime to support their family with jobs in retail, construction, and eventually coming to the state of North Carolina where she currently serves as Director of Transition Services for the North Carolina Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.
Read more: https://ocveteransmemorial.com/events/ .
Related Events:
On Saturday, May 25 at 7:30 am please join American Legion Post 6 to decorate with flags the graves of veterans at the Chapel Hill Memorial Cemetery at 1721 Legion Road, Chapel Hill.
On Monday, May 27, representatives of Chapel Hill American Legion Post 6 will participate in the Orange County Veterans Memorial Ceremony. Immediately following this ceremony, the American Legion Post 6 Legion Riders motorcycle club will ride in a procession to Post 6. The American Legion at 3700 NC 54 West in Orange County is one of the newest Posts in the country, with a custom designed 14,000+ sf building located on a beautiful bucolic 126 acres with pastureland and pond. https://www.chapelhillpost6.com/ .
At Post 6, doors open at 1 pm for viewing of the beautiful facility highlighting Post 6’s museum of historical artifacts and memorabilia and Post 6 member’s personal military memorabilia. A Memorial Day Ceremony is at 2 pm. Following the ceremony there will be food, drinks and patriotic music. https://chapelhillpost6.com/memorial-day-events/
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Header Photo by SP Murray
MEDIA CONTACT
Lee Heavlin
Historian@alpost6.org
919-260-6571
