Memorial Day Weekend 2023: Events Around Mendham, Chester

MENDHAM/CHESTER, NJ — The Mendham and Chester communities will once again come together to honor the service and sacrifice of all veterans on Monday, May 29.

Mendham Borough will hold a veteran's remembrance ceremony on May 29 at 10 a.m. The event will take place at Veterans Memorial Borough Park and will feature honorary speaker Herb Korte.

Each year, the Chester American Legion Post 342 and the Borough of Chester hold a special commemoration for those who gave their all for their country, in keeping with the original intent of Memorial Day.

In addition to speakers and music, the names of Chester residents who died while serving in the military are read aloud. The commemoration concludes with a 21-gun salute.

The event will take place at the Larry Maysey Memorial on Main Street in Chester Borough and will begin at 11 a.m.

As the observance has changed over the years, many families also use Memorial Day as an occasion to visit local cemeteries and leave flowers at the graves of family members, regardless of whether they served in the military.

The history of Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, dates back to 1868, when Gen. John A. Logan called for a day of remembrance to honor the Northern lives lost amid battle during the Civil War that had ended just a few years earlier, according to History.com. As time passed, more and more people called it Memorial Day, and it became a federal holiday in 1971.

Waterloo, New York, is considered the birthplace of Memorial Day. The town’s observance on May 5, 1866, predated Logan’s call for a day of remembrance. Local businesses closed and residents decorated the graves of fallen soldiers with flowers and flags.

Until World War I, the holiday honored only those soldiers who died while fighting for the Union in the War, as Southern states honored their war dead on a separate day. After the 116,000-plus American deaths in World War I, the tradition changed to remember all who have died while serving in the military.

Every year, a national moment of remembrance is held at 3 p.m. local time on Memorial Day. No matter where they are or what they’re doing, Americans are asked to pause for one minute in silence to remember military personnel who have given their lives in service to their country.

According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, the midday time was chosen because it’s a time when many Americans will be enjoying their freedoms on a national holiday.