Memorial Day ceremonies to take place in Mason City on Monday

MASON CITY — Memorial Day ceremonies will be held around north-central Iowa on Monday. In Mason City, the Mason City Veterans Memorial Association will hold their annual Memorial Day ceremony with an assembly at 9:15 AM with the program to follow at 9:30 at the Elmwood-St. Joseph Cemetery.

Mayor Bill Schickel read a proclamation declaring Memorial Day at this week’s City Council meeting. Schickel talked about the proclamation during the “Ask the Mayor” podcast this week on northiowanow.com.   “We can’t say enough and extend our heartfelt gratitude. Memorial Day, honoring those that have given the last full measure of sacrifice for this country. We had a delegation there from the Veterans Memorial Association to present the proclamation for them and designate Monday as Memorial Day in Mason City. We also remembered the 5000 veterans that are buried in both Elmwood Cemetery and Memorial Park Cemetery, and about 100 that have been added just in the last year.”

The guest speaker at Monday’s ceremony will be Bill Clark, who served as a Navy hospital corpsman and attached to the Marine Corps Fleet Marine Force.

Following the ceremony, a police escort will proceed to Memorial Park Cemetery for a brief program, with the honor guard then proceeding to the IOOF Cemetery to provide honors to three World War I Veterans.