Memorial Day Activities Announced by Chattanooga National Cemetery

  • Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Saturday, May 23rd –  8:00 a.m. Scouts Honor Veterans Ceremony  (All gravesites decorated with an American Flag)

Saturday, May 23rd – 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Located behind Shelter “B” will be an Historical Timeline presented by The History Company

Saturday, May 23rd – Approximately 9:00 AM to 10:00AM  2nd Annual TN Valley Veterans Benefit Ride will visit Memorial Circle

Monday, May 25th – 11:00 a.m.

Annual Memorial Day Program

Monday, May 25th – 8:45 p.m. Torch Light Tour of Chattanooga National Cemetery

 

All events are open to the public. 

For additional information please call   423-855-6590 or visit our website at www.cem.va.gov

 

Additional information on Torch Light Tour:

On Memorial Day evening, Monday, May 25, 2015, Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park Historian Jim Ogden will conduct a Torch Light Tour of the Civil War portion of the National Cemetery.  In recognition of this year being the 150th anniversary of the end of the Civil War in 1865, the focus of Historian Ogden’s tour will be on the National Cemetery and interments within it in that spring that saw our nation’s tragic yet transformative civil war come to a close.  The roughly ninety minute tour will begin at 8:45 PM by the old cemetery entrance arch and memorial pavilion in the southwest section of the cemetery.  Comfortable, supportive footwear, clothing appropriate to the weather, water, and a flashlight are recommended for this tour. Mr. Ogden can be reached at the following email address:  james_ogden@nps.gov.

Background on Memorial Day:

Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May (May 25 in 2015).  Formerly known as Decoration Day, it commemorates U.S. service members who died while in the military service.  First enacted to honor Union and Confederate soldiers following the American Civil War, it was extended after World War I to honor Americans who have died in all wars.

VA operates 131 national cemeteries, one national Veterans burial ground and 33 soldiers’ lots and monument sites in 40 states and Puerto Rico.  More than 4 million Americans, including Veterans of every war and conflict, are buried in VA’s national cemeteries.  VA also provides funding to establish, expand, improve, and maintain 95 Veterans cemeteries in 45 states and territories including tribal trust lands, Guam, and Saipan.  For Veterans not buried in a VA national cemetery, VA provides headstones, markers or medallions to commemorate their service.  In 2014, VA honored more than 356,000 Veterans and their loved ones with memorial benefits in national, state, tribal and private cemeteries.  

Information on VA burial benefits can be obtained from local national cemetery offices, from the Internet at www.cem.va.gov, or by calling VA regional offices toll-free at 800-827-1000.  To make burial arrangements at any open VA national cemetery at the time of need, call the National Cemetery Scheduling Office at 800-535-1117.
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