(Dublin, Ohio) — It’s been two years since the Dublin community has come together in person to honor and remember members of the military who lost their lives in service to our country. Now, the City of Dublin and the Wesley G. Davids Dublin Post 800 of the American Legion welcome the Central Ohio community to join in a Memorial Day Ceremony Monday, May 30 to commemorate those honorable service members.
The May 30 schedule of events is as follows:
11 a.m. – This year’s event will have a new procession route that will start at Riverside Crossing Park, continue through Historic Dublin and end at Dublin Cemetery. The wreath throwing ceremony will now take place at The Dublin Link pedestrian bridge instead of the West Bridge Street bridge.
11:30 a.m. – Memorial Day Ceremony at Dublin Cemetery located at 83 West Bridge Street
Noon – Complimentary community picnic lunch at Monterey Park
The general public is invited and encouraged to attend. Please bring blankets and lawn chairs for your comfort. Free parking is available at Dublin Community Church, Columbus Metropolitan Library – Dublin Branch and more parking can be found throughout Historic Dublin.
Traffic Impact
The Memorial Day procession will take place through Historic Dublin on North High Street and S.R. 161. It will start at 11 a.m. and last 5-10 minutes.
North High Street and S.R. 161/Bridge Street will be closed intermittently and on a rolling basis from 10:50 a.m. to noon, between Rock Cress Parkway and the S.R. 161/High Street intersection and the Bridge Street Bridge and Monterey Drive for a Memorial Day procession to the Dublin Cemetery.
The wreath throwing ceremony on The Dublin Link will start at 11 a.m. and last 5-10 minutes. Then the Wesley G. Davids Dublin Post 800 of the American Legion will march to the cemetery from 11:10 to 11:30 a.m.
Keynote Speaker
This year’s keynote speaker is Army Captain Meg Kelvington. During Meg’s eight years of active duty service from 2006 to 2014 she flew helicopters and planes as a RC-12 pilot.
Kelvington grew up in an Army family with both her mother and father being West Point graduates. She followed in their footsteps and graduated from the United States Military Academy in 2006. After graduating from flight school in 2008, qualified in both the Blackhawk helicopter and RC-12 Guardrail airplane, she was stationed at Hunter Army Airfield. She then deployed to Afghanistan and flew over 200 combat hours. After additional schooling she went on to the 82nd Airborne Division and 1st Corps before leaving the Army to focus on her family and pursue coaching and mentoring.
Now she uses her Army leadership experience to train others to be “Fit To Serve” while being an Army wife and mother to four young children.
Kelvington owns a coaching business, Riveting Mission LLC, where she trains women to be resourceful and resilient through all of life’s challenges. Meg is also currently pursuing her master’s in counseling through Liberty University. She and her husband, Mike, have four children, McKinley (10), Madison (8), “Mac”Arthur (6) and Moriah (3).
Gold Star Family
A Gold Star family is defined as the immediate family member(s) of a fallen service member who died while serving in a time of conflict. The Gold Star Family that will be recognized at this year’s Memorial Day Ceremony is the Reynolds family.
Sergeant Titus Reynolds of Columbus, Ohio, was 23 years old when he lost his life in Afghanistan in 2009. His vehicle was attacked with an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) just two weeks before he scheduled to return home from his deployment.
Reynolds was raised in Columbus and graduated from Reynoldsburg High School. He is survived by his wife, Dominique “Nikki”; his parents, Rod and Elizabeth; his siblings, Rachel, Johnny, and Markie; and several aunts, uncles, cousins, and many brothers-in-arms. Reynold’s sister, Rachel O’Rourke, will speak at the Memorial Day Ceremony on behalf of the family.
Since WWI, families would display a Blue Star Banner in their home’s front window to let onlookers know that a member of the family serves in the Armed Forces. The flag included a blue star for every immediate family member serving in the military. Also known as the Service Flag, the blue star stands for hope and pride.
When service members lost their lives, the blue star was replaced with a gold star representing their loved one’s ultimate sacrifice. A silver star stood for someone returning home after being wounded overseas. The flag was displayed in homes again in WWII. On Oct. 17, 1943, Congress authorized the Service Flag approving the Blue Star Banner as the official design.
The Muirfield Village Garden Club, together with The City of Dublin, Dublin American Legion Post 800 and the former Dublin VFW Post 10691, dedicated a Blue Star Memorial in 2015, located in Dublin Cemetery. The flower garden surrounding the memorial is maintained by the garden club.
Remembrance Project
A great way to learn about those who served our country is through The Remembrance Project, which the Dublin Chamber of Commerce’s Leadership Dublin Executive Program Class of 2021 initiated to honor Dublin’s veterans.
The ongoing project’s goal is to set the guidelines for future volunteers to gather information about the veterans interred at Dublin Cemetery and uses today’s technology to provide those stories to the public.
Visitors to the cemetery can scan a QR code at the entrance to visit a website where they can learn more about the veterans, locate their gravesites on a map, and read their story as told by their family and friends. As service members’ stories are collected, volunteers will add their photo and service history to the website.
The City of Dublin is asking that community members help us tell Dublin’s veterans’ stories. If you have a loved one who served and who’s interred at Dublin Cemetery, or if you yourself are a veteran, we want to hear from you. Visit DublinVeterans.com to share yours or a loved one’s service history to be documented in the Remembrance Project.
Additional Activities
To round out the Memorial Day event, The Dublin Link will be illuminated in red, white and blue the evening of May 30 in honor of Memorial Day.
Community members are also encouraged to participate in the following individual or small group activities:
- Participate in the National Moment of Remembrance. Pause for a moment of silence at 3 p.m. on Memorial Day.
- Raise your American flag to half-staff from sunrise until noon on May 30.
- Visit one of the Dublin cemeteries this weekend to reflect and pay tribute to the interred veterans.
- Visit the National Veterans Memorial and Museum in Columbus.
- Share your beloved fallen service member’s story and photo with others on social media.
For more information about the City of Dublin’s community events please visit DublinVeterans.com and follow the City of Dublin on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and Nextdoor.
About the City of Dublin, Ohio, USA
Dublin is a city of nearly 50,000 residents located just northwest of Columbus, Ohio. It offers residents and corporate citizens responsive services, attractive housing, superior public education, direct regional highway access, abundant park space, thoughtful and strategic planning, innovative ideas and technology and a dynamic community life. Dublin is ranked the number one small city in Ohio and is consistently ranked one of the safest cities in the nation. It is home to more than 20 corporate headquarters, an entrepreneurial center, 4,300+ businesses, world-class events and the urban, walkable Bridge Street District. For more information, visit DublinOhioUSA.gov or call 614.410.4400.
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Media Contact:
Shirley Blaine
Public Information Officer
614.230.4683 – Cell
614.410.4523 – Desk
sblaine@dublin.oh.us
Newsroom: https://dublinohiousa.gov/newsroom/
