Canadian’s annual communitywide Memorial Day ceremony will be held on Monday, May 27, at 11 am. This is one of Canadian’s most important events, honoring generations of men and women of Hemphill County who served in the defense of their country.

As in years past, Canadian’s American Legion Post 56 will conduct this year’s ceremony, which will be held at Edith Ford Memorial Cemetery.

Memorial Day, or Decoration Day—as it was originally known—was first recognized following the Civil War. Though many communities had memorial services for fallen soldiers, the official birthplace of Memorial Day is Waterloo, New York, which held its first service on May 5, 1866. It became an official U.S. holiday in 1971.

It is customary to place a United States flag on the grave of each deceased veteran. In order to continue this tradition, Post 56 is seeking the help and support of the larger community. Volunteers are asked to come to the cemetery on Sunday, May 26, at 1:30 pm to place the flags, and to return at 5 pm on Monday following the ceremony to help retrieve them. Post 56 cannot do this without your help.

This year’s ceremony will feature an Amarillo speaker who helped start a program to properly bury the ashes of indigent veterans who were cremated by authority of county judges because there was no family to do it.

The names of the deceased will be read, after which, a rifle salute will be fired in honor of all deceased veterans.

A practice for the firing party will be held at 9:30 am Monday at the Hemphill County Courthouse. Post 56 welcomes all veterans who wish to participate. American Legion membership is not a requirement. For more information about the practice, please call John McGarr at 806.323.2567.