Ceremony to be Held at Afghan-Iraqi War Memorial in Salem

It begins at 1:00 PM with Oregon Department of Veterans' Affairs Director Jim Willis serving as Master of Ceremonies.

(SALEM, Ore.) - Memorial Day marks the day set aside to remember our nation's fallen men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces. Across America, flags will be flown at half-staff in honor to these national heroes.

A Memorial Day ceremony will be held at the Afghan-Iraqi Freedom Memorial, located on the grounds of the Oregon Veterans' Building at 700 Summer Street N.E., to pay tribute to all of Oregon's fallen servicemembers.

The ceremony will commemorate the names of Oregon servicemembers who have been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan and have been added to the Memorials' Wall of Honor since it was dedicated in November 2006. It begins at 1:00 PM with Oregon Department of Veterans' Affairs (ODVA) Director Jim Willis serving as Master of Ceremonies. The Grand Ronde Honor Guard will post the Colors, Chaplain Col (Ret) Rich Meyers, Oregon National Guard (ORNG), will provide the Invocation and Benediction. Keynote speaker is Col (Ret) Scott H. McCrae, ORNG, followed by ODVA Deputy Director Paula Brown who will conduct the unveiling of the newly added names. A wreath laying is also planned.

There is expected to be numerous members of the Patriot Guard Riders motorcycle group and riders from various other Oregon motorcycle groups and associations in attendance, as the ceremony is a planned stop on the agenda for their Memorial Day Rally.

The ceremony, which is open to the public, is dedicated to the families and survivors of those lost in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. For more information contact ODVA at 503-373-2284.

Salem-News.com Top Stories

2025: Hope for the Best, Prepare for the Worst

Two Wars with No Way Out

No One Owns the Future

The Ugly Origins of Trump's America First Policy

A One-State Solution Could Transform the World

Comments Leave a comment on this story.

All comments and messages are approved by people and self promotional links or unacceptable comments are denied.

Albert Marnell May 29, 2007 10:54 am (Pacific time)

JB, Watch "Why We Fight" on DVD (the 2005 prox.version). You are a typical example of an American that relies on T.V. and newspapers for facts. Your mindset was shaped by 4 media giants and there is so much non-political party information out there. It is true that you have to go outside the U.S. to get accurate information. Even the British are more against this Iraq nonsense than the average American. I met with a young Western European student while on a short trip. She said what I have heard so many times, that the civilized world is shocked at our behavior and they all know that 9/11 was an inside job. People talk about air shows. Where was Norad on 9/11? The answer is simple that this was all allowed to happen as a pretext to invade the middle-east. Why was the Bin Laden family (friends with the Bush family for decades allowed to leave on 9/11 when everyone else was grounded. It's out there, I am tired of giving people leads.

JB May 28, 2007 2:24 pm (Pacific time)

Go back to Russia Albert.

Albert Marnell May 27, 2007 3:32 pm (Pacific time)

My sympathy to all the families that have lost innocent soldiers who died believing in what they were told by our "Administration" (controlled by Central Bankers and Industrialists). The terms "Operation Iraqi Freedom" and "Operation Enduring Freedom" are just euphemisms for occupation, death, loss of freedom, asset confiscation, control, base building, globalist power steering and war profiting. I totally agree with Hank on this one. I also know that the definition of a country is no longer what it was. The Global Elite...Bilderberg, Trilateral Commission, Council on Foreign Relations are just euphemisms also. These groups along with their naive "Groupies" are steering global policy ultimately and sometimes unknowingly for the benefit of the ruling class of Central Bankers and Multinationals. David Rockefeller has actually stated that he feels the world is better off not ruled by self-determination but rather by an elite class: the central bankers of course having the most to say. This is not Freedom, it is Serfdom under the cover of jingoism and under the guise of real Freedom. Get ready for your R.F.I.D. chip.

Hank Ruark May 23, 2007 9:37 am (Pacific time)

Blood-money is still blood money. If collected by non-armed forces entrepreneurs riding on the backs of those described above, for me that's by far more nefarious and disturbing than ordinary service by those for whom we wish the strongest in support, based on realistic appreciation of the true and terrible situation.

Red White and Blue May 23, 2007 8:39 am (Pacific time)

Roosevelt once said... "It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."

Hank Ruark May 22, 2007 9:00 pm (Pacific time)

To all former Iraq contractors: If you plan to attend, please make sure to wash your hands thoroughly prior to arrival.

[Return to Top]