When American Legion Post 63 Honor Guard steps off to start this year’s Memorial Day parade, 10 a.m., May 27, it will be from a new location.
The parade starts this year at Depot Park, instead of the Community Education building parking lot off Church Street.
The move shortens the parade route, doesn’t require closing Main Street, and requires less traffic control by sheriff’s deputies, said Barney Schoenfeld, American Legion Post 63.
“The focus is our service at the cemetery,” Schoenfeld said. “The parade is just a method of getting over there.”
The ceremony focuses on the true meaning of Memorial Day, he said.
“I look at Memorial Day as a day to honor our deceased veterans, both those who gave their lives in combat and those who did not,” he said.
Special guest at the Memorial Day ceremony at Lakeview Cemetery off White Lake Road will be John Heller, World War II veteran and survivor of the U.S.S. Indianapolis, which was sunk by a Japanese submarine after delivering the atomic bomb “Little Boy.”
“We are very fortunate to have him join us and be a part of our service,” Schoenfeld said.
Students from Clarkston Junior High School will present essays they wrote about Memorial Day and its meaning.
“That’s become an annual thing for us ? it’s in its third year,” he said. “We’re pleased to have young people involved with their families, telling us what Memorial Day means to them.”
The parade, led by American Legion Campbell Richmond Post 63 Color and Honor Guard, Sons of the American Legion, and Auxiliary, starts at 10 a.m. at Depot Park. It will take a left on Holcomb Road onto White Lake Road, and continue to the cemetery.
Clarkston High School Marching Band will provide patriotic music, Terry Shelswell of Independence Township will bring his vintage military trucks, and Kristina Scarcelli and Kayla Sanders will also perform. American Legion members and volunteers will place flags on graves of veterans at the cemetery on May 26.
For more information, call 248-625-9912.