On Monday, May 27, the National Memorial Day Association of Georgia is hosting the annual Memorial Day ceremony at the Marietta National Cemetery. The event takes place at noon and honors our Veterans, both past and present, who served as well as those who gave their lives for our country’s freedom.
With patriotic music, posting of the colors, prayers, a gun salute, as well as inspiring speakers, all Veterans, as well as the public, are invited to attend. Thousands of flags on the graves of the fallen are placed carefully and respectfully by local Boy Scout troops. It is an amazing sight.
Originally established in 1866 as Marietta and Atlanta National Cemetery, Marietta National Cemetery was intended to provide interment for nearly 10,000 Union dead from General William Tecumseh Sherman’s Atlanta Campaign.
The land for the cemetery was donated by local resident Henry Cole, as a place to inter both Union and Confederate soldiers. His idea was that by burying together those who had fallen together in battle, it could help foster a kind of peace. Both sides rejected his proposal, and the land was used primarily to inter Union soldiers, while the others were buried in the Marietta Confederate Cemetery.
Marietta National Cemetery was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 18, 1998.
The Memorial Day ceremony at Marietta National Cemetery at 500 Washington Avenue brings the purpose of Memorial Day into focus.
Please take a moment this weekend and think about those who sacrificed for the freedoms we hold so dearly. They are our fallen heroes of war.
For more information, please visit nmdaga.org.
