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The Osceola County Veterans Council Honor Guard fires a 21-gun salute at Amercian Legion Post 10 on Monday. PHOTO/TERRY LLOYD -
Wreaths were laid at Mount Peace Cemetery Monday during St. Cloud's annual Memorial Day service. PHOTO/TERRY LLOYD
Several somber observances of Memorial Day 2023 took place in Kissimmee and St. Cloud on Monday, May 29.
Members of the American Legion Post 10 in Kissimmee placed wreaths at the Post’s War Memorial at Lakefront Park at noon. In accordance with custom, the Post’s American flag, which was lowered to half-staff earlier in the morning in memory of the fallen, was then raised to full-staff.
Earlier in the day, the Post 10 Legion Riders set out from the Post’s lakefront building to Rose Hill Cemetery to place wreaths on the graves of William Thomas Makinson, First Lieut. Co. “A” 56th Infantry and Nathan Bryan Carson Jr., Private, 5th Marine Regiment. Both men were Kissimmee natives who died in World War I, and the Kissimmee post is named in their honor.
In St. Cloud, the Annual Memorial Day Remembrance Ceremony, sponsored by the City of St. Cloud, American Legion Post 80, and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3227, took place at Mount Peace Cemetery on Monday morning.
Over 15 wreaths were laid in tribute to those military members who died in war by various patriotic and civic organizations. Speakers included U.S. Rep. Darren Soto, State Rep. Paula Stark, and Osceola County District 5 Commissioner Ricky Booth.
Memorial Day is intended to honor the men and women who died serving in the U.S. military. The holiday originated in the late 1860s, after the end of the horrific Civil War. Families visited the graves of their fallen soldiers in early May, decorating the graves with spring flowers. The day soon became known as Decoration Day. Memorial Day became an official U.S. holiday in 1971.
