Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
WORLAND – American Legion Floyd Minch Post 44 will conduct Memorial Day ceremonies in Worland and Ten Sleep on Memorial Day, Monday, May 30.
As it has for decades, the Worland Legion post will begin its Worland ceremonies at 11 a.m. at the Arch in Memory of the Valiant in Riverview Memorial Gardens Cemetery on West River Road next to the Washakie County Fairgrounds.
The emcee will be Post 44 Commander Ryan Decker and the chaplain will be Post 44 Chaplain Frank Ley. The Color Guard and Firing Squad will be provided by the Post 44 Honor Guard. The welcome to the ceremonies will be presented by Worland Mayor Jim Gill. The recitation of ‘In Flanders Fields’ and the reply to ‘In Flanders Fields’ was undetermined at press time.
The main speaker at this year’s ceremony will be Kate Decker, a high school English teacher who taught her Ten Sleep students writing and the spirit of patriotism by assigning each student to interview a veteran to gain a greater understanding of the sacrifices by those who serve in the U.S. military, and then write a profile of the veteran to convey to others the nature of service to the country.
The final step in this exercise in patriotism is when Decker has the essays published in a book, with each veteran receiving a copy of the volume. She has conducted this program for the last four years.
Following the speaker there will be the placing of wreaths in memory of the armed services, conflicts of the 20th and 21st centuries and other patriotic organizations. After the benediction by Chaplain Ley, the firing squad will render a three-shot volley to honor the fallen, with the bugle call ‘Taps’ bringing the ceremonies to a close.
There will be an informal lunch at the Post 44 Post Home at 129 South Seventh Street following the ceremonies at the cemetery, with the meal provided by the VFW Post 3093 Auxiliary.
The Ten Sleep ceremonies will begin at 2:30 p.m. at the Ten Sleep Cemetery. Kate Decker will be the speaker. The welcome will be by Ten Sleep Mayor Ernie Beckley and the reciters of the poems will be Cora Norman and Grace Bertsch. The chaplain will be Methodist Pastor Kayi Pfoze.
This year Post 44 is conducting an upgrade of the Worland cemetery plat that indicates veterans’ graves. Every year the Legion learns of veterans’ graves that had no flag placed on them for Memorial Day. In making this effort, the Post is asking the families of any veteran whose grave has been missed to contact one of the Legionnaires working on this project: Frank Ley -- 431-8128, Justin Pfeiffer – 431-6713 or Don Hall – 431-1982.