Ceremonies to mark Memorial Day

People in Boulder City will have a variety of ways to honor veterans this Memorial Day weekend.

On Saturday morning, volunteers are needed to help place flags at veterans’ graves throughout the cemeteries in Boulder City.

At 7 a.m., members of the public can help with a Flag In an event at the Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery, where they will place American flags on each grave site. Those interested should meet in the southern Courtyard Chapel area. There will be a short ceremony to learn the proper placement of the flags. Every volunteer will receive a commemorative World War I pin.

Later that morning at 10, volunteers can join with American Legion Post 31 and American Legion Auxiliary Unit 31 to place crosses and flags on the grave sites of the more than 400 veterans buried at the Boulder City Cemetery.

The legion will hold its Memorial Day ceremony at 9 a.m. Monday at Boulder City Cemetery, 501 Adams Blvd. At 4 p.m., they and anyone who wants to help will pick up the flags and crosses.

Special guest speaker for the ceremony will be Gloria West Saucier, 92, who served in the Marine Corps Women’s Reserve during World War II.

Additionally, the legion and its auxiliary will observe Poppy Day, selling the traditional red flowers from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday at various locations in the city. Members also will have them at the information booth for the Best Dam Barbecue Challenge on Friday and Saturday.

Sunday will feature the Vietnam Vets-Legacy Vets Motorcycle Club’s 23rd annual Fly Your Flags Over Hoover Dam Run. The 2½-mile long procession will start at 10 a.m. on the Arizona side of the dam and continue to the veterans cemetery for a short ceremony presented by the Special Forces Association, Chapter 51.

At 1 p.m. Monday, the Nevada Department of Veterans Services will host a ceremony at the veterans cemetery, 1900 Veterans Memorial Drive. The ceremony will be conducted by the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Cpl. Matthew A. Commons Memorial Post 36 of Boulder City, in cooperation with the cemetery’s advisory committee and volunteer group.

Keynote speakers for the ceremony are Gov. Brian Sandoval and U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Dr. Joe Heck.

During the ceremony, there will be a special recognition of veterans, Blue Star Mothers and Gold Star Parents.

The program will include pipers, a 21 gun salute and patriotic songs sung by Phil Esser. The ceremony will end with a flyover by the Boulder City Veterans Pilot Group, which will fly in the Missing Man Formation.

After the program ends, volunteers are needed to help retrieve the flags from the graves.

Contact reporter Celia Shortt Goodyear at cgoodyear@bouldercityreview.com or at 702-586-9401. Follow her on Twitter @csgoodyear.