Memorial day happenings in the Tri-Town
May 25, 2021
From left to right: Volunteers Dana Anderson, Patty Nicholson, and Alanna Nelson do an annual planting at the Marion Veteran’s Memorial prior to the town’s services on Memorial Day. Photo by: Tinker Saltonstall
The Florence Eastman Post 280 of the American Legion left a wreath on the memorial outside the Mattapoisett Library las year. Photo by: Moe Molander
Marion Selectman Randy Parker places a wreath during last year’s pared-down Memorial day service. Photo by: Donna Hemphill
After services were scaled down last year due to covid, Marion and Mattapoisett will host Memorial Day remembrances complete with bands and walks to the water.
In Marion, Memorial day services will start at 9:00 a.m. at the Old Landing veterans memorial on Front Street.
The remembrances will feature the Sippican School Band, led by director Hannah Moore, and The Portuguese American Band.
The town’s guest speaker is Dr. Steve Pierce, Assistant to the Dean for Technology and Innovation in the College of Distance Education at the U. S. Naval War College in Newport.
He has been on the Naval War College faculty since retiring from active duty in the U.S. Navy in 2006. Pierce enlisted in the Navy in 1982 and performed duties as an Avionics Technician and
Naval Aircrewman, specializing in airborne reconnaissance and signals intelligence collection. While on operational tours of duty, he served in Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadrons One and Five, and in Special Projects Patrol Squadron Two.
Ashore, Pierce served in Helicopter Training Squadron Eight, as a Department Chief in the Joint Aviation Electronic Warfare Training School, and as an instructor at the U.S. Navy’s Senior Enlisted Academy.
He holds a doctorate in management from Colorado Technical University and two master’s degrees.
The ceremony will conclude with a reading of the names of Marion’s veterans who died in the last year, followed by the town’s selectmen laying a wreath.
The master of ceremonies for the event will be Major Andrew Bonney of the Massachusetts Air National Guard.
In Mattapoisett, remembrances will start at noon outside the Mattapoisett Free Public Library.
There, the Florence Eastman Post 280 of the American Legion will recognize Memorial Day with a short service at noon.
The 15-minute long service will begin outside the library, and move to Town Wharf to remember those who lost their lives at sea.
Rochester won’t be holding any services or remembrances this Memorial Day, but the Rochester Fire Department’s Memorial Day Boat race is still on for an 8:30 a.m. start.
