Weaverville – The Weaverville community will once again gather to honor the nation’s fallen service members during its annual Memorial Day observance, held at 11:00 a.m. on Monday, May 26, at the Community Center overlooking Lake Louise. The ceremony will be a heartfelt tribute featuring music, remembrance, and community reflection. Pastor Rebecca Gurney of Reems Creek-Beech Presbyterian Church will offer the invocation and benediction. The Asheville Senior Chorus will lead the crowd in the National Anthem and a medley of patriotic songs.
The program will also include a solemn video presentation of the rifle salute by the Weaverville Police Department Squad and the playing of taps by the Weaverville Fire Department. Adding to the ceremony’s emotional resonance, “Amazing Grace” will be performed live on bagpipes by Howard Dusenbury.
This year’s guest speaker is Major General Joseph G. “Skip” Garrett III (Retired), a highly decorated Army veteran whose military career spanned more than three decades. A Distinguished Military Graduate from The Citadel in 1969, Major General Garrett was commissioned as an Air Defense Artillery Officer and retired from the Army in 2001. His last assignment before retirement was as principal director of European and NATO policy in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Prior to that post, Garrett served in several senior strategy and policy positions, including director of strategy, plans, and policy for the U.S. Army. Earlier key assignments included duty as the commanding general of the 32d Army Air Defense Command, U.S. Army Europe. During combat operations in Desert Shield and Desert Storm, he commanded the Patriot missile units of the 11th Air Defense Artillery Brigade in Saudi Arabia. He was a HAWK missile battalion commander in Germany at the height of the Cold War and served in Vietnam as the executive officer of a special Military Intelligence Detachment supporting U.S. units in the Danang and Hue areas. Before his assignment to Vietnam, he commanded an airborne air defense artillery battery in the 82d Airborne Division. He is a senior parachutist and a graduate of the Army’s Ranger and Pathfinder qualification courses. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from The Citadel and a master’s degree in business administration from Georgia State University. Additionally, he was a national security fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Among the military schools he attended are the U.S. Army Air Defense Artillery School, the U.S. Army Infantry School, and the U.S. Marine Corps Command and Staff College. His awards and decorations include the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, the Army Distinguished Service Medal (2 awards), the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit (5 awards), the Bronze Star Medal (2 awards), and numerous other U.S. and foreign awards and decorations.
Memorial Day, originally known as Decoration Day, began after the Civil War as a time to honor soldiers who died in battle. Over time, it grew to commemorate all U.S. military personnel who lost their lives in service. It became a federal holiday in 1971 and is observed each year in May. The Weaverville Memorial Day Observance is organized by the volunteer Residents’ Patriotic Activities Committee in cooperation with the Weaverville Town Council. The Committee also organizes events to commemorate Patriot’s Day in September and Veteran’s Day in November.