Newport’s Sons of Union Veterans chapter is holding its annual Memorial Day ceremony at Island Cemetery on May 26, 2025, at 2 p.m.
The event, put together by Major General Thomas West Sherman Camp 1, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW), honors those who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.
Everyone is welcome to join this all-ages event, which includes patriotic readings, speeches from public officials, flower-laying, and a firing detail with Taps.
Major General Thomas West Sherman Camp 1, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW), is hosting its annual Memorial Day ceremony at the Island Cemetery at 2:00 PM on Monday, May 26, 2025. The public is encouraged to attend this all-ages observation to honor those who have given the “last full measure of devotion” to their country.
The program begins promptly at 2:00 and will feature patriotic readings, appropriate greetings and addresses from public officials, the laying of flowers by all those in attendance, and a firing detail with Taps.
Memorial Day was established on 30 May 1868 by Grand Army of the Republic Commander-in-Chief General John A. Logan through his General Order no. 11. 100 years later, Memorial Day was moved from May 30 to the last Monday in May under the Uniform Monday Holiday Act of 1968.
Made up of men from all walks of life, The Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War is the Congressionally chartered, legal heir to and representative of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR). Initially established in 1881 as the Sons of Veterans, the men of the GAR, recognizing their mortality, sought to preserve their legacy by establishing a lineal organization of descendants that would exist in perpetuity to keep Memorial Day, to decorate the graves of the “Boys in Blue,” to tell a true account of the service of the Union Army, and to promote fraternity, charity and loyalty.
The SUVCW engages the public through educational events designed to teach about the Civil War by working with local historians and living history interpreters to tell the stories of the “Boys in Blue.”
Through participation in flagging the graves of Civil War veterans, working in cemetery restoration and preservation, and through historical and genealogical research, the SUVCW continues its mission, as established by the Grand Army of the Republic, to “keep green the memory” of the men who fought and died to preserve the Union, 1861-1865.
