County Executive Charlie Dooley will be the guest speaker at the annual Memorial Day service at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery.

The service will begin at 10 a.m. Monday, May 29, with a procession to the Old Flag Circle, where ceremonies will be conducted. The St. Louis Gateway Singers will provide musical selections.

After the Memorial Day program, a recreation of an early Memorial Day program in the Civil War section of the cemetery will be offered by the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War and the Sons of Confederate Veterans.

The program will be reminiscent of Memorial Day, or Decoration Day, as it was known then, shortly after the annual observance was established by the Grand Army of the Republic in 1868. Women in period attire will adorn the graves of Union and Confederate Civil War veterans with flowers, followed by salutes fired by period muskets and artillery. Those interested in attending should follow the procession at the conclusion of the service.

General parking for cemetery visitors will be at the Sylvan Springs Park in the lot directly in front of the main entrance to the cemetery and the Veterans Administration Medical Center adjacent to Beasley Elementary School. Buses will be available to and from the parking sites.

On Sunday, May 28, the Boy Scouts of the Gravois Trail District of the St. Louis Area Council will conduct their 56th annual Memorial Day Good Turn Ceremony.

Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, unit leaders and their families will keep the tradition that began in 1950.

Chief Master Sgt. Richard Kaiser of Scott Air Force Base will be the guest speaker for this time-honored tradition.

This is done on Sunday so that at dawn on Memorial Day, every grave will have an American flag placed beside it.