The City of Miami, G.A.R. Cemetery cordially invites the public to their annual Memorial Day Ceremony to be held on Monday, May 29th, at 2801 North Main, Miami, OK 74354. The ceremony will take place at the Historical G.A.R. Monument located at the south end of the cemetery. You can access this location by entering the southernmost gate entrance.

This year the Ceremony will begin at 9:00 a.m. G.A.R. Cemetery Director; Kim Horn, reflected that the new time that was implemented 2 years ago has worked well for all who attend, and stated that immediately following the ceremony, Brown-Winters Funeral Home will be serving refreshments in the gazebo.
Participants this year are: the American Legion (Post #147); Marine Corps League (Northeastern Oklahoma Detachment); the 4 State Friends of Veterans; David Rountree, City of Miami and Associate, Piper for the City of Tulsa Pipes and Drums, will perform a patriotic ensemble and “Amazing Grace”; Amanda Cole, Joplin High School Music and Band Director will be the bugler, and her Special Choir, from Joplin High School, will sing our National Anthem, “The Star-Spangled Banner”.

We are honored to welcome guest speaker, Carol Larkin. Ms. Larkin was in Naval Aviation as an AZ (Aviation Administration). Her last duty station was NAS Oceana Virginia with the Grim Reapers Air Squadron VF 101, and, she received the National Defense Metal in 1974 for service during the Vietnam era.

The Flag Ceremony will be conducted by local area Boy Scout, Mason Compton, Troop #50. Mason has been working on his Eagle Scout badge, and approached G.A.R. Cemetery about working on a project to map out Veteran’s Markers. He spent several months doing this with the help of some volunteers and has completed 17 blocks in the oldest part of the cemetery. This consisted of covering an area of 2,596 graves.

This year, like year’s past, the local Scout Troops will organize the Scouts and volunteers to help with the placement of approximately 3000 flags upon Veteran’s graves over Memorial Day weekend. Cemetery Office Manager, Nancy Bro stated, “These boys and girls always do an amazing job placing the flags upon our Military Veteran’s graves. Their spirit and enthusiasm is contagious, and I always look forward to this event. We also want to inform the public that the cemetery office always has extra flags available year around for their use.”

We at G.A.R. would also like to thank Vietnam Veteran, Melvin Cook for the donation of 144 flags to help with our annual flag placement event, and Jerry Cole for being here every year to hand out small flags to all who attend our Ceremony.

For more information, contact the City of Miami G.A.R. Cemetery at (918) 541-2288.