Memorial Day Service at Perry’s Victory

Release Date:  May 24, 2022

Contact:    Barbara Rowles, barbara_rowles@nps.gov, 419-285-2184 extension 1225

Memorial Day Service at Perry’s Victory

Put-in-Bay, Ohio – Park Rangers, volunteers, special guests, and the Put-in-Bay community will honor the fallen at Perry’s Victory and International Peace Memorial during a Memorial Day Service at 11am on Monday, May 30. The Memorial column will open immediately following the ceremony at approximately 12pm.

“After two years of marking this solemn occasion with a simple wreath laying, we will once again all come together on Memorial Day to honor the men who died in the Battle of Lake Erie and all servicemembers who lost their lives in service to our country” said Superintendent Barbara Rowles.

The service will begin at 10:55am with a procession from the Visitor Center to the Memorial plaza where a brief service will take place starting at 11am. A wreath will be placed in the Memorial’s rotunda over the spot marking the location where the three American and three British naval officers who died in the Battle of Lake Erie are interred together. As has been the tradition in recent years, Park Rangers will hand out red carnations with the name of an Ohioan who has died in the line of duty. This year Dan Polk will be our special guest leading us in singing the National Anthem at the beginning of the service. He is well known to Ohioan’s for leading the National Anthem for the Guardians, Browns, and Bengals.

Superintendent Rowles said Park Rangers and volunteers will also attend the American Legion’s Memorial Day Service starting at 12pm at Maple Leaf Cemetery. All are encouraged to attend both services and to observe a moment of silence in a National Moment of Remembrance at 3pm.

Both ferry services to the island provide free transportation to veterans on Memorial Day.

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About Perry’s Victory and International Peace Memorial. The park was established to honor those who fought and died in the Battle of Lake Erie during the War of 1812 and to celebrate the long-lasting peace between the United States, Great Britain, and Canada. The Memorial, a Doric column, rising 352 feet over Lake Erie is 5 miles from the longest unarmed border in the world. It has an open-air Observation Deck 317 feet tall offering spectacular views of the Lake Erie Islands and Canada. Learn more at www.nps.gov/pevi, Perry’s Victory and International Peace Memorial on Facebook, Twitter @PerrysVIPM, Instagram @perrysvictorynps. Visitors with special needs planning to attend a program or event at Perry’s Victory and International Peace Memorial are requested to contact the park at 419-285-2184 to discuss their needs and available services.