Central Oregon honors the fallen: Memorial Day observances planned across the High Desert
Barney Lerten
Update: Adding video.
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) — Central Oregonians will be honoring service members who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country at several events around the area on Memorial Day.
Bend’s Memorial Day Service begins at 1 p.m. at the Central Oregon Veterans Memorial at Deschutes Memorial Gardens.
In downtown Bend, volunteers will read the names of every U.S. service member killed in Afghanistan since 2001 and in Iraq since 2003 at the 18th annual “We Are Remembering – Not Just a Number” event at Troy Field Each name is accompanied by the beat of a drum.
Signs listing each of those heroes are also placed around the field during the event, which begins at 8 a.m. and continues until about 11:30 p.m. The reading of names will also be livestreamed.
Bend’s first observance of the day begins at 7 a.m., as the Bend Heroes Foundation and volunteers will honor Bend’s 112 war dead with a moment of silence and by installing flags bearing veterans’ names at Bend Heroes Memorial in Brooks Park, along Veterans Memorial Bridge, and downtown Bend.
Boy Scout Troop 25 has the honor of leading the flag installations, with former Scoutmaster Kelly Reynolds and Junior Assistant Scoutmaster Atticus Zmach leading the volunteers.
Proclamations issued by President Trump and Governor Kotek will be read.
Foundation Chairman Dick Tobiason will update participants on the recently completed Oregon Gold Star Families Memorial Highway across Oregon on the 477 mile US Hwy 30 between Astoria and the Oregon – Idaho border. That highway honors the families of about 6,000 wartime veterans from Oregon who made the ultimate sacrifice during war from WWI to the present, including Bend’s 112. The Gold Star highway on US Hwy 30 is the longest highway in Oregon and the 9th and final veterans highway across Orego,n initiated by the Foundation. Photos of Gold Star Family members and highway signs will be shown.
Tobiason will also discuss the National Medal of Honor Highway Act, created by Congress and President Biden last December at his request. That 3,365-mile highway across the USA on US Hwy 20 honors all 3,528 Medal of Honor recipients from all 50 state,s including 29 recipients connected with Oregon and had its origin in Oregon eight years ago.
The National Medal of Honor Highway is the longest highway in our nation. Tobiason kept his promise to WWII Medal of Honor recipient Bob Maxwell, a director of Bend Heroes Foundation, to honor our nation’s Medal of Honor recipients with the coast-to-coast highway. The original Act signed by Congress and President Biden and a highway map will be displayed at 7:00 am.
Finally, a wreath will be placed by Gold Star Families at the granite monument listing the 112 war dead names at Bend Heroes Memorial before 250 flags are installed.
The Foundation’s Bend Parade of Flags program began 20 years ago, with BSA Troop 25 as the first youth group to be involved.
In Redmond, a Memorial Day ceremony takes place at 11 a.m. at Redmond Memorial Gardens and another observance is set for 9 a.m. at the Terrebonne Pioneer Cemetery.
The Sisters veterans community will mark Memorial Day with a gathering at Sisters Village Green Park at 11 a.m.
This year’s keynote speaker is Col. John Miller, U.S. Air Force (Ret.). Miller is a life member and has served as post commander for both the Sisters VFW and American Legion Post, and continues to be an officer in both, The Nugget Newspaper reports.
Prineville’s traditional Memorial Day Parade begins at 10 a.m. and travels from NE Fourth and Main streets, down Fourth Street to Elm Street. It ends at the Memorial Park area of Ochoco Creek Park, where there are POW/MIA and Hotshots monuments.
From there, participants walk north one block and line the Elm Street Bridge across Ochoco Creek for a wreath-laying ceremony.
At 1 p.m., the Prineville Band of Brothers hosts a paver dedication and rededication of the Bob Ervin Vietnam Veterans Memorial at the Crook County Fairgrounds.