Annandale’s annual Memorial Day parade will begin at 10 a.m. Monday, May 25. Led by the Annandale Veterans Honor Guard, the parade will include the Annandale High School Marching Band, Boy Scout Troop 354, Cub Scouts from packs 754 and 354 and Girl Scouts from the Annandale Service Unit. The parade will follow the usual route, and honor guard leader Mike Aitchi-son invites the public to walk along with the marchers. Veterans should wear something that identifies them as vets, he said, like part of their old uniform, a pin or a cap. Aitchison has participated in many Memorial Day parades since his first in 1973, he said, and has been organizing them since 1985. The procession will start at Annandale Middle School, move west on Chestnut Street, then north on Main to Annan-dale Municipal Park for a brief ceremony at Pleasant Lake. Flowers will be laid on the waters while the band plays "The Navy Hymn" and "Taps." The honor guard will fire a rifle salute. The parade will retrace its steps to Park Street, then march east to Woodlawn Cemetery and the Amer-ican Legion Memorial. Veterans’ graves will be decorated with American flags placed there and at other area cemeteries by honor guard members. A member of the clergy will recite opening and closing prayers. The ceremony will feature a speech by Millard Nelson, a Navy veteran of World War II. The honor guard will fire another rifle salute and a band member will play "Taps." The Boy Scouts will have a flag retirement at the cemetery afterward, Scoutmaster Jerry Carter said. People can bring worn flags for retirement at that ceremony or a later one. The eighth annual Boy Scout Troop 354 pancake breakfast will be sponsored by the Annandale Lions Club from 8 a.m. to noon at the municipal park pavilion, and veterans and soldiers on active duty will eat for free.
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