3 Special Observances Honor Service Members Who Gave Their Last Full Measure
There are three Memorial Day observances in Vernon in the days leading up to Memorial Day on Monday, May 27.
Memorial Day Parade in Rockville on Monday, May 27
The town wide Memorial Day Parade and Observance is Monday and is hosted by the Town and the American Legion. The parade steps off at 10 a.m. from Northeast School and then pauses briefly at Grove Hill Cemetery for an observance at Lugg Field.
The parade then resumes and continues from Hale Street to Grove Street to East Main Street and into downtown Rockville. The ceremony follows the parade in Central Park in front of Town Hall.
A Connecticut Air National Guard C-130 flyover is expected about 11 a.m.
The parade will feature Vernon veterans riding in antique cars, the 100-member Vernon Center Middle School Band, the Rockville High School Band, the 1048th Transportation Co. of the Connecticut Army National Guard, Vernon Police, the Town of Vernon Fire Department and the Freedom Riders Motorcycle Club. Members will march and have two vehicles in the parade.
The parade grand marshal is Edward Sumski, a Vernon resident and World War II veteran who served as an aircraft mechanic with the Army Air Forces in the Pacific Theater.
The New England Civil War Museum on the second floor of Town Hall will be open from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. so stop in as you wait for the parade, and after the parade. The Sphinx Motor Patrol will entertain spectators before the parade in downtown Rockville. All are welcome.
Memorial Day Parade in Talcottville on Sunday, May 26
The parade forms at 9 a.m. at Talcottville Congregational Church, then proceeds to Talcottville Cemetery for a short ceremony and the reading of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. This is one of the shortest parades you will ever find, and a great community tradition. All are welcome.
Memorial Day observance at Grove Hill Cemetery on Thursday, May 23
Members of the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War and of the New England Civil War Museum will place flags at the graves of Civil War veterans buried in Vernon’s historic Grove Hill Cemetery.
There will be a rededication ceremony at Thomas F. Burpee’s grave at 7 p.m., followed by a firing of three rounds from Civil War era muskets and a reading of the names of all of the soldiers buried at Grove Hill. Access the cemetery off Hale Street. All are welcome.