Memorial Day service
Noon, Monday
Marietta National Cemetery, 500 Washington Ave., Marietta
Free.
404-510-4668, www.nmdaga.org
A rise running alongside busy Roswell Street in Marietta has been a quiet corner of solitude in the Cobb County seat since 1866. It is the Marietta National Cemetery, where the souls of more than 18,000 war veterans have been laid to rest. Today, it is perhaps most noted by those speeding through town for its dramatic entrance gates - 35-foot- high combinations of Doric columns and ornamental iron.
The 23-acre cemetery, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is notable for another reason: Since 1946, it has been the site of a Memorial Day tribute to fallen war heroes. The event is the only activity planned and carried out by the National Memorial Day Association of Georgia, a Marietta-based group that draws members from around the metro area for the sole purpose of organizing an annual tribute.
And despite the word “national” in its name, President Brad Beasley says the organization is not a chapter of a larger group, but a uniquely Georgia body.
“And even though it is in Marietta, we do this service for the whole state,” said Beasley, who lives in Riverdale. “I think we have the most extensive and longest-running service of this kind in Georgia.”
The association has about 350 members, but it takes more than that to orchestrate the event, said Mark Barbour, a former president and the group’s current chaplain.
“We are associated with about 100 veterans and civic groups and organizations such as the Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution,” said Barbour. “Locally, we pair with the First Presbyterian and First Methodist churches and the Marietta Rotary. We have monthly meetings just to make sure everything is in order for Memorial Day, and the event goes on regardless of the heat, the rain or the cold.”
Each year, the service welcomes about 1,500 people, including elected and military officials, family members of war dead and veterans from every war in current history. The event begins at noon and usually lasts for 90 minutes, with guest speakers, honorees and musical interludes. This year, color guards from Campbell and Marietta high schools will be on hand. A 21-gun salute and a flyover by vintage World War II planes are also scheduled.
“We’re very proud that our ceremony is uplifting and has a lot of dignity to it,” said Barbour. “It’s a time for remembrance, to honor those who have given the ultimate sacrifice and to honor those who are serving now. It is solemn, certainly, but also very patriotic.”
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