From Staff Reports

The City of Asheville and Buncombe County will host a Memorial Day Ceremony at 2 p.m. May 29 at the Roger McGuire Green in Pack Square Park in downtown Asheville.

The ceremony will feature a short reading by Jim Hernandez, who was a pilot during the Vietnam War for the U.S. Air Force.

Giving the keynote address will be Lt. Gen. Walter E. Gaskin (Ret.), U.S. Marine Corp, and now secretary of the N.C. Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.

The joint Asheville Police and Fire Department Honor Guard will present and retire the colors — and will escort Mayor Manheimer and commissioners’ Chairman Newman — in presenting a memorial wreath in honor of the members of the armed forces who have sacrificed their lives in service to this country.

Also, Bradley Parker,  commandant of the Asheville Marine Corps League Detachment 1417, will sing the National Anthem and perform “Taps.”

Additional ceremony participants will include Stephanie Young, director of the Charles George VA Medical Center; Ted Minnick, U.S Army veteran of the Vietnam War; and Steve Henderson, U.S. Marines’ veteran of the Vietnam War.

Spider Trantham, Vietnam, Purple Heart, will perform the 13 Folds Flag-Folding Ceremony, while Allan Perkal, U.S. Air Force, Vietnam, will be the master of ceremonies.

The public is also invited to attend a Memorial Day Ceremony at 10 a.m. May 29 at the Western North Carolina State Veterans Cemetery, 962 Old U.S. Highway 70, Black Mountain.