Friday
Lynchburg’s Presbyterian Cemetery on Grace Street will have a “flags-in” ceremony at 1:30 to place American flags at the graves of the hundreds of veterans who are buried there. The public is welcome to attend.
Saturday
The “Stars and Stripes Forever” Concert at the D-Day Memorial has been rescheduled to Saturday night at 7:00 p.m.
An inspiring concert of patriotic music performed by the Jefferson Choral Society accompanied by a band and designed to celebrate the freedoms Americans prize. Opening act features the Let’s Dance Band guaranteed to get the audience on its feet and moving. A family-friendly event to honor veterans and active-duty military in an awe-inspiring hilltop setting.
Ticket prices: Adults $12 in advance, $14 at the gate; students ages 6-18, veterans or Memorial members $8 in advance, $10 at the gate; children under 6 and WWII vets are free. Concertgoers are reminded to take their own chair.
Monday
Downtown Lynchburg at Monument Terrace 11am (sponsored by the Virginia Piedmont Chapter, Military Order of The World Wars and the Desmond T. Doss Memorial Post 12179, Veterans of Foreign Wars)
This year’s observance will highlight the amazing stories of Lynchburg’s three Medal of Honor awardees as presented by MOWW’s Assistant National Historian and former Lynchburg Chief of Police Chuck W. Bennett.
D-Day Memorial in Bedford: A highly decorated Vietnam POW will deliver the Memorial Day Keynote Address at the D-Day Memorial in Bedford. Dave Carey spent five and a half years as a POW in Vietnam after his aircraft was shot down during a combat mission. Carey has become an author and motivational speaker. Carey will deliver the keynote address during the National D-Day Memorial’s annual Memorial Day observance, May 30th at 11a.m.
The D-Day Memorial in Bedford plans a special tribute to the Bedford Boys on Memorial Day. On Monday, May 30th, the Memorial and the Bedford International Alliance will gather at 2p.m. at Longwood-Oakwood-Greenwood Cemetery to lay flowers on the graves of each Bedford Boy killed in action on June 6, 1944, and laid to rest there. They’re asking residents to bring fresh-cut flowers to lay at the graves. Bedford lost more men in the D-Day invasion than any other place in the country.
Appomattox County:
American Legion Post 104 and Auxiliary Unit 104 and Appomattox Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9855 will sponsor a ceremony on Monday, May 30, 2022, at 11:00 A.M. at Liberty Baptist Church Ministry Center, 1709 Church Street in the Town of Appomattox.
The keynote speaker will be Commander Kirk S. Lippold, USN (Ret.) who was the Commanding Officer of the USS Cole when it came under a suicide terrorist attack by al Qaeda in the port of Aden, Yemen on October 12, 2000. Seventeen U. S. Navy sailors were killed and 37 were injured. He and his crew distinguished themselves by saving the ship from sinking. This event is widely recognized as one of the most brazen and horrific acts of terrorism by al Qaeda prior to September 11, 2001.