Memorial Day Ceremonies

Louisiana Department of Veterans Affairs staff at the state’s five veterans homes and five veterans cemeteries will host ceremonies to honor veterans on Memorial Day.

At our veterans homes, ceremonies will be held for residents and staff including the reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance, singing of the National Anthem and other patriotic songs, reading the names of fallen veterans and veterans who have passed away in the past year, ringing of the bell in veterans’ honor, balloon releases, prayers, playing of Taps and refreshments. While our homes are not able to open these events to the public this year, some ceremonies will be available via Facebook.

The five cemeteries will be conducting abbreviated Memorial Day ceremonies at 11 a.m. on Monday, May 31. Service organizations will be present to place wreaths. Masks will not be required as long as social distancing is maintained. Please note, in order to aid in social distancing, no seating will be provided.

We fully recognize that these ceremonies are not our typical Memorial Day ceremonies, but our goal is to provide an opportunity to honor our fallen veterans. We look forward to getting back to normal operations and ceremonies in the future.

Aside from our Memorial Day plans, we are currently reaching out to all Louisiana World War II women veterans. We will be honoring this special group of heroes during a ceremony on June 10 at 9 a.m. at American Legion Post 38 in Baton Rouge. We have confirmed the attendance of five World War II women veterans, and are excited to honor all World War II women veterans who attend with certificates, lapel pins, challenge coins and Louisiana honor medals.

If you are a Louisiana WWII woman veteran, or you know a Louisiana WWII woman veteran, please reach out to LDVA Director of Outreach Larry Williams at larry.williams@la.gov or 225.276.8626. If you plan to attend the event, please RSVP to larry.williams@la.gov. If the veteran is not able to attend the luncheon and presentation of awards, we will mail them their awards.

Additionally, the ceremony will be available to watch via Zoom at:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88501412788?pwd=QTNTb3VMQVA2RWtVaGs0bFNVSVhVZz09.