Salem Memorial Day Weekend 2024 Events

SALEM, MA — The upcoming Memorial Day services in Salem are part of a nearly 160-year tradition that pays tribute to military personnel who lost their lives in service to their country.

On Thursday, the 4th annual O'Donnell-sponsored breakfast will be held in Danversport at 8:30 a.m.

Then at 11 a.m., the 2nd Cavalry 188th Birthday celebration and Ayube memorial will take place at Salem Common.

Dragoons from the oldest continuously serving U.S. Army Regiment will gather electronically from around the globe to commemorate their 188th Birthday. As part of the celebration, they will be honoring several soldiers who have made the ultimate sacrifice. One of which is Salem’s own Sergeant James Ayube II, who was lost on Dec. 8, 2010.

Residents may join the Ayube Gold Star family, Salem Veterans Council, community members and others from around the world at Salem Common. There will be a simultaneous worldwide webcast live-streamed from there to join other 2nd Cav events in Germany, France, West Point, Ft. Moore, Augusta, GA, and Florida.

On Sunday, from 2 to 4 p.m., a Broad Street cemetery walk will highlight the 107 veteran graves in the cemetery, including 70 from the Revolutionary War.

On Monday, Salem will host a veterans square dedication in honor of a city resident who died serving his country in World War II.

The public is invited to attend the dedication of the corner of Orne and Larchmont streets in honor of US Army PFC, William Arthur Walsh on Memorial Day morning at 11 a.m.

After graduating from St. John's Prep and forgoing his acceptance to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, PFC Walsh volunteered for service during World War II. He was trained as an infantryman and assigned to the 95th Infantry Division.

As the observance has changed over the years, many families also use Memorial Day as an occasion to visit Salem cemeteries and leave flowers at the graves of family members, regardless of whether they served in the military.

The history of Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, dates back to 1868, when Gen. John A. Logan called for a day of remembrance to honor the Northern lives lost amid battle during the Civil War that had ended just a few years earlier, according to History.com. As time passed, more and more people called it Memorial Day, and it became a federal holiday in 1971.

Waterloo, New York, is considered the birthplace of Memorial Day. The town’s observance on May 5, 1866, predated Logan’s call for a day of remembrance. Local businesses closed and residents decorated the graves of fallen soldiers with flowers and flags.

Until World War I, the holiday honored only those soldiers who died while fighting for the Union in the War, as Southern states honored their war dead on a separate day. After the 116,000-plus American deaths in World War I, the tradition changed to remember all who have died while serving in the military.

Every year, a national moment of remembrance is held at 3 p.m. local time on Memorial Day. No matter where they are or what they’re doing, Americans are asked to pause for one minute in silence to remember military personnel who have given their lives in service to their country. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, the midday time was chosen because it’s a time when many Americans will be enjoying their freedoms on a national holiday.