Honoring our fallen: Memorial Day ceremonies, parades return to southern Maine communities

Communities throughout the Seacoast of southern Maine will see a return to Memorial Day traditions this Monday, May 30, as parades and ceremonies that had been on hold during the COVID-19 pandemic will resume.

Residents in these communities will gather to honor the men and women of the United States military who are no longer with us.

Sanford

Governor Janet Mills will attend and speak at the Memorial Day ceremony at the Southern Maine Veterans Memorial Cemetery this Monday, May 30.

Mills will be joined by fellow speakers Sanford Mayor Anne Marie Mastraccio, and U.S. Coast Guard Commander Luann Kehlenback, who will deliver the keynote address, the Southern Maine Veterans Memorial Cemetery Association announced on its Facebook page.

State Sen. David Woodsome also has been invited to attend.

The ceremony will begin at 1 p.m. and will include the St. Thomas School Choir singing the national anthem and a performance of “Amazing Grace” by bagpipers Al Halliday and Bill Ferrigno, according to the association.

Local World War II veterans Leon Tanguay and Don Littlefield will place the memorial wreath.

The Southern Maine Veterans Memorial Cemetery is located at 83 Stanley Road. The ceremony will be held, rain or shine.

On Monday morning, the city’s Memorial Day Parade will start near the armory on William Oscar Emery Drive at 10 a.m. It will proceed through Gowen Park, will turn right and head north on Main Street and will conclude at the gazebo at the corner of Main and Bridge streets in Springvale, according to Jerry Newport, the chair of the Sanford Veteran Memorial Committee.

“We want to see as many people as we can on Main Street,” Newport said.

Before the parade steps off, local veterans will honor servicemen and women who died at sea by placing a wreath on Number One Pond, the shore of which also is on William Oscar Emery Drive, at 9:30 a.m.

Per tradition, veterans will rise early on Monday and start laying wreaths at local parks and cemeteries at 7 a.m. They will start at the memorial at Central Park on Main Street and continue on to St. Ignatius Cemetery on Berwick Road, Oakdale Cemetery on Twombley Road, Soldiers and Sailors Park on Oxford Street, Riverside Cemetery on Riverbank Court in Springvale, and Notre Dame Cemetery on Pine Street in Springvale.

Those wishing to join the veterans as they lay wreaths throughout the community can meet them at 6:45 a.m. at the Dunkin’ at the corner of Main and Roberts streets in downtown Sanford, Newport said.

The public is invited to attend all of these proceedings, according to Newport. In the event of rain, the parade will be canceled, and the ceremony scheduled for the gazebo in Springvale will instead be held at the Memorial Gym at 678 Main Street.

Arundel

The Arundel Historical Society will host a ceremony at the veterans’ memorial at the town’s fire station at 468 Limerick Road this Sunday, May 29, at 11 a.m. According to Jake Hawkins, the president of the historical society, the ceremony will consist of an invocation, a reading of the honor roll, a wreath-laying, and Taps.

“The public is invited to attend and remember our veterans,” Hawkins said.

Kennebunk

Veterans will meet bright and early on Monday at the Webber-Lefebvre American Legion Post at 15 Water St, at 7 a.m. Two buglers and a drummer from Kennebunk High School’s band will join them, according to Post Commander John Gouveia.

From there, police will escort them to local monuments and the town’s cemeteries, where brief ceremonies honoring the fallen servicemen and women of the U.S. military will be held.

The town’s parade will step off at 2 p.m. in front of the Kennebunk Police Station on Summer Street and will proceed south on Main Street. The procession will stop on the bridge at the Mousam River, so that a wreath may be placed onto the water to honor those who served or died at sea, according to Gouveia.

The procession will continue south, turn around on Friend Street and head back to where it started, stopping for brief ceremonies at the monuments near Kennebunk Savings and at Washington Park.

U.S. Army Sergeant Greg Morrill will be the parade’s marshal, according to Gouveia.

All veterans are welcomed to take part in the parade, either to march or to ride, Gouveia added.

“We have several cars for older veterans,” Gouveia said.

Veterans who would like to be in the parade are asked to report to the starting point by the police station on Summer Street at 1:30 p.m.

Kennebunkport

The town’s Memorial Day Parade will launch on Temple Street at 9:30 a.m. and will proceed through Dock Square and across the Lanigan Bridge, according to the Kennebunkport Police Department.

Wells

In Wells, the Memorial Day Parade will step off Monday, May 30, at 9 a.m. According to Rebekah Kelley, the town’s new communications and volunteer coordinator, parade participants are asked to meet at the Wells High School parking lot at 200 Sanford Road at 8:30 a.m.

“The parade will commence at Wells High School, continue down Sanford Road, and end at Ocean View Cemetery, where there will be a small ceremony,” Kelley said.

State Rep. Tim Roche will be the Master of Ceremonies at the cemetery. The ceremony there also will include performances by the Wells High School and Junior High School marching bands, and the local music group Atlantic Harmonies, according to Kelley.

Wreaths will be laid at the graves of local World War I veterans and brothers Elbridge and Leroy Hanson, who were killed in action during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in France in October of 1918.

York

The town of York will hold its Memorial Day Parade on Monday at 10 a.m.

The parade will begin from the staging area at St. Christopher's Church on Route 1A and then proceed southbound to the First Parish Cemetery, where a brief ceremony will take place in the green behind Town Hall.

Major General Tom Spencer, of the United States Army, will give the Memorial Day address.

The York High School Band, the York Middle School Band, and the Piscataqua Junior Rangers Fife & Drum Corps all will perform at the ceremony.

All local veterans are invited to march at the front of the parade and are asked to report to St. Christopher’s Church no later than 9:45 a.m.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Honoring our fallen: Memorial Day ceremonies, parades return to southern Maine towns