Largest Memorial Day Ceremony Returns To Roswell

Sign up for the Roswell Patch newsletter!

The city of Roswell will host what’s been dubbed the largest Memorial Day ceremony in Georgia.

The 2015 Roswell Remembers Memorial Day ceremony will be held May 25 at the city’s Faces of War Memorial Site at City Hall, which is at 38 Hill Street.

Starting at 10 a.m., residents will be able to visit displays and exhibits and pre-ceremony music will start at 10:15 a.m. The Atlanta Wind Symphony and Chattahoochee Celtic Pipes and Drums are both slated to provide pre-ceremonial music for residents to enjoy.

The ceremony will get underway at 11 a.m., and will feature the presentation of colors, the National Anthem, Pledge of Allegiance, invocation, “Lest We Forget” POW-MIA, the Laying of the Wreath and this year’s keynote speaker, Christina Olds.

Olds grew up a United States Air Force brat and lived around the world with her fighter pilot father, Brig. Gen. Robin Olds and movie star mother Ella Raines.

She graduated from Vassar College with a bachelor’s degree in English and creative writing. Between 1979 and 2001, Christina held project management positions in international corporations based in downtown San Francisco before moving to Colorado in 2003.

She worked as a project designer for Vail Resorts Development while on the volunteer ski patrol. She traveled extensively with her father to pilot reunions and aviation events in the United States and England.

While caring for him during his terminal illness, Christina promised to complete his unfinished memoirs. “Fighter Pilot: The Memoirs of Legendary Ace Robin Olds,” was published April 13, 2010, by St. Martin’s Press, and quickly became a national best seller.

Since the publication of the book, Olds has dedicated herself to preserving and honoring her father’s legacy through speaking engagements at air shows and aviation museums across the country.

She is currently the director of the Pacific Coast Air Museum at the Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport in Santa Rosa, California, and is working on the biography of her grandfather, Maj. Gen. Robert Olds.

The program will conclude around 12:30 p.m. and the grounds will open for a picnic featuring a barbecue lunch and live music. Due to large crowds and the sudden noise from the 21-Gun Salute, this event is not suitable for pets.

Roswell Remembers Memorial Day is presented by Roswell Rotary Club and the city of Roswell. For additional information, call 770-640-3253 or visit www.roswellmemorialday.com.

Image via Shutterstock