Attleboro needs your help to decorate the graves of our veterans!
Join us at these times and places (addresses for GPS purposes only, mailing addresses are different):
??Monday, May 15th at 9:00 am: Woodlawn Cemetery, 255 North Main Street
??Monday, May 15th at 6:00 pm: St. John???s Cemetery, 165 West Street
??Tuesday, May 16th at 9:00 am: North Purchase Cemetery, 855 North Main Street
??Thursday, May 18th at 9:00 am: Hillside Cemetery, 775 South Main Street
??Thursday, May 18th at 6:00 pm: St. Stephen???s Cemetery, 50 Tiffany Street
??Friday, May 19th at 9:00 am: Old Kirk Yard Cemetery, 50 Park Street (behind the Second Congregational Church)
??Tuesday, May 23rd at 2:00 pm: Veteran???s Memorial Common, 30 Pleasant Street
??The City of Attleboro has a long tradition of acknowledging the service and sacrifice of the veterans of our armed forces by visiting and decorating their graves as a community for Memorial Day.
The tradition dates back to 1868 when Major General John A. Logan gave an order to an organization of Union veterans of the Civil War ??? the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) ??? to establish a Decoration Day on May 30th of each year to decorate the graves of the war dead.
An excerpt from the VA website on Memorial Day History:
General Logan???s order for his posts to decorate graves in 1868 ???with the choicest flowers of springtime??? urged: ???We should guard their graves with sacred vigilance. … Let pleasant paths invite the coming and going of reverent visitors and fond mourners. Let no neglect, no ravages of time, testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and undivided republic.???
In the earliest newspapers kept on file at the Attleboro Public Library dating back to 1873, the local G.A.R. post would print for the general public the plan for the events of Decoration Day.
Members of the Post, Clergymen, School Children, and Citizens of Attleboro would be accompanied by a Marching Band of fifes and drums as they made their way to each of the cemeteries where veterans were buried.
A ???generous supply of flowers??? were donated by the community in a display of ???commendatory thoughtfulness??? to decorate the graves. Articles would also be submitted to the paper following the day boasting about the community???s display of patriotism as among the most admired in the Commonwealth.
In the late 1800s the number of the graves in Attleboro which were to be decorated numbered 50 or fewer. Today that number has grown to over 3,500; and the tradition has changed from decorating the graves with flowers to flags. We strive to ensure that every veteran buried here in Attleboro is properly acknowledged and thanked for their service by planting a flag at their final resting place, and you can help!??
We would like to invite all members of our community to visit the local cemeteries with us for the incredibly rewarding experience of participating in this long-held tradition, and to honor those who have given so much to protect our freedoms and our way of life.
Ken Badertscher
Department of Veterans??? Services
City of Attleboro