Memorial Day ceremonies will begin at 10 a.m. to honor fallen veterans.
By: Joseph Harvie
Many Americans will celebrate Memorial Day by attending parades and holding picnics.
But come Monday, many also will take time to remember those who died defending the United States.
Memorial Day ceremonies start at 10 a.m. when veterans groups, township clergy and elected officials gather at VFW Post 9111 on Henderson Road for a flag-raising ceremony. Afterward, they’ll travel to local cemeteries to lay wreaths at the headstones of fallen veterans.
Other ceremonies include a flag raising at Miller Memorial Presbyterian Church, near the intersection of Ridge Road and New Road, at noon Sunday and an observance at 7:30 p.m. Sunday at the Fresh Ponds Chapel at the intersection of Fresh Ponds Road and Davidsons Mill Road.
"It is not a day of celebration. It is a day of remembering those who gave so much to this country," said Al Kady, a veteran and member of VFW Post 9111 in Kendall Park.
"I’m a Normandy survivor, but I am not a hero," Mr. Kady said. "The heroes are the ones that are still there. The ones that died protecting our rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
Monday’s flag raising ceremony will include prayers by Rabbi Levi Azimov of Chabad of North and South Brunswick and the Rev. John Maltby of Miller Memorial Presbyterian Church.
"From the morning until noon the flags will fly at half-mast. Then in the afternoon they will return to full mast," Mr. Kady said. In addition, the South Brunswick High School Band will perform patriotic songs at the event.
Veterans will move on from the VFW Hall to area cemeteries including Vunk-Quick Cemetery on Beekman Road where Civil War and Revolutionary War soldiers are buried and lay wreaths on the gravesites of veterans.
Mr. Kady said after the wreaths are laid there will be a closing ceremony at American Legion 401 Hall on Major Road, where hot dogs and hamburgers will be served.

