Hi-Line to hold Memorial Day observances

Traditional Memorial Day observances will be held in Havre at 11 a.m. Monday on the west lawn of the Hill County Courthouse.

Jed Damson, one of the organizers, said Thomas Baty, a Havre High School teacher, will lead about 20 high school boys in singing patriotic songs.

There will be prayers for deceased military personnel.

There also will be a roll call of veterans and auxiliary members who have died over the last year, he said.

Members of veterans groups and auxiliaries will place wreaths in honor of those who died, he said.

Boy Scouts will raise the flag and lower it to half staff.

Chauncey Parker, a retired U.S. Army captain, veteran of the Afghanistan war and former American Legion commander at Rocky Boy, will speak.

After the ceremonies at the courthouse, people will move to the Havre Elks Club for a chili feed and further observances.

There will be a special table with an empty table setting representing those who are missing in action, Damson said.

Elks Club members will address the crowd on the importance of the flag.

Observances will also be held at Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation, said John Gardipee, who is organizing the work.

Flags will be placed at the gravesites of all veterans buried at Rocky Boy Cemetery and other cemeteries such as the one at Parker School, he said.

Headstones will be placed at the gravesites at a recently opened cemetery for veterans.

Gardipee said he donated land for the veterans cemetery after his father died.