The community’s largest Memorial Day observance will take place in an 11 a.m. ceremony May 26 at Vancouver Barracks.
The event will be at the Clark County Veterans Memorial along Fort Vancouver Way. The memorial recognizes more than 575 local service members who died in conflicts ranging from the Spanish-American War in 1898 to operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Memorial Day observance will be presented for the sixth year by the Community Military Appreciation Committee, in partnership with the city of Vancouver, the National Park Service, Fort Vancouver National Trust, Armed Forces Reserve Center and the 40 et 8 veterans organization.
Keynote speaker will be Col. Richard W. Wedan, commander of the Oregon Air National Guard’s 142nd Fighter Wing, based in Portland.
Wedan leads more than 1,000 personnel who are part of the wing’s mission of defending the Pacific Northwest, as well as participating in deployments around the world.
Wedan enlisted in the Minnesota Air National Guard in 1988; he earned his commission in 1989 and received his F-16 training at Kingsley Field in Klamath Falls, Ore., in 1991.
In 1997, Wedan returned to Oregon as an instructor pilot with the 173rd Fighter Wing at Kingsley Field.
Other scheduled speakers include U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Camas; Vancouver Mayor Tim Leavitt; Tracy Fortmann, superintendent of Fort Vancouver National Historic Site; and Lt. Col. JD Litton, 90th Brigade, Armed Forces Reserve Center.
The U.S. Army transferred the last of its Vancouver Barracks property to the National Park Service in 2012.
The observance is sponsored by Waste Connections.
