Memorial Day Ceremony To Honor 3 With MD Ties + All Veterans Who Died

TIMONIUM, MD — The annual Memorial Day ceremony at Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens will take place on Monday, May 30. It will be live-streamed and is also open to the public.

In preparation, youths planted 3,500 flags on the graves of veterans in the Field of Honor at the cemetery. Baltimore County Girl Scout troops joined the Young Marines from Elkridge, Jarrettsville and Hamilton to put the flags down on Saturday.

Music will be provided by the 229th Maryland Army National Guard Band, piper Robert McCurdy, singer/songwriter Jon Wikstrom and Maryland Sings Alumni.

Chuck Ritz of the Hope and Peace Foundation will toll the bell of Maryland's 9/11 Rolling Memorial to honor those lost within the past year, including three service members with ties to Maryland:

• U. S. Navy Hospital Corpsman 1st Class Sarah F. Burns of Severna Park was among the crew members killed August 31, 2021, in a helicopter crash off the San Diego coast during a Navy training mission.
• U.S. Navy Lt. Junior Grade and Naval Academy graduate Aaron P. Fowler who died on April 17, 2022, during military training at the Marine Corps Base Hawaii.
• U.S. Air Force Airman First Class Dewayne A. Stevens of Chester, Md., died March 24, 2022, at his duty station at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada.

Wreaths will be placed, "Taps" will be played and a 21-gun salute will be part of the ceremony.

The flag will be flown at half-staff from sunrise until noon, according to Memorial Day protocol.

U.S. Kennels Incorporated, a non-profit organization that provides service dogs for disabled veterans at no cost, will have a presence at the event, and so will the Maryland National Guard Honor Guard Firing Party and Color Guard, 4th Combat Engineer Battalion, USMCR Color Guard unit, Patriot Guard Riders, Knights of Columbus and Elkridge Young Marines.

The Memorial Day ceremony will be at 10 a.m. on Monday, May 30 at the Circle of the Immortals, Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens, 200 E Padonia Rd, Timonium, MD 21093. To get there, turn left at the main gate and continue in that direction until a tent is visible.

All members of the armed forces who gave their lives in service will be honored.

To watch the live-stream, visit the Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens’ website or Facebook.

Here is the format for the event:

• Emcee and keynote speaker: Alan Walden, American Flag Foundation, Inc; Patriots of Fort McHenry
• Memorial Address: Congressman C.A. "Dutch" Ruppersberger, III
• Invocation: Chaplain
• Invocation: Matthew D. Ortega, Joint Force Headquarters, Maryland National Guard
• Memorial Address: Colonel Wayde R. Minami, director of public affairs, Maryland National Guard
• Memorial Address: Captain Dru DiMattia, Master Mariner, President, American Merchant Marine Veterans
• Family Memorial Address: Gold Star Mother, Linda Willey (Air Force master sergeant, retired), whose son, Army Sgt. Clayton Michael Willey, died in 2013.