JAMESTOWN, NY — The City of Jamestown, in collaboration with Collaborative Children’s Solutions and NY4 Blue Star Mothers, will host a Memorial Day Parade and Memorial Day Service at Lakeview Cemetery on Monday, May 27, 2024. The parade will be immediately followed by the service. The keynote speaker will be Jamestown resident Col. Charles Watkins, USMCR.

Col. Watkins, a Clarion University of PA graduate, was commissioned as a 2nd Lt. in the United States Marine Corps in 1992 and became a Naval Aviator in 1995. He served over 30 years, completing six overseas deployments to the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. Notably, he served as the Senior Marine Liaison Officer during the campaign against ISIS in 2017 and the evacuation of Afghanistan in 2021. Col. Watkins retired as a Colonel in 2022 and now works as a medical helicopter pilot with STAT Medevac at UPMC Chautauqua. He resides in Jamestown with his wife Leah and their three daughters.

The event’s Master of Ceremonies will be Chautauqua County Sheriff and Blue Star Dad James Quattrone. The Jamestown Municipal Band, under the direction of Blue Star Dad Rick Lundquist, will perform. Guest clergy Reverend Sam Shreffler, USAFSS, 1970-1974, and retired senior chaplain for Heritage Ministries, will participate. Other notable participants include Chautauqua County Executive PJ Wendel; retired Air Force Major and Director of the Chautauqua County Veterans Service Agency, Greg Carlson; NYS Assemblyman Andy Goodell; and Jamestown Mayor Kim Ecklund.

Local school students will recite “In Flanders Fields” and the Gettysburg Address, and a vocal trio will perform “God Bless the USA.” The service will conclude at noon with a traditional rifle volley, Taps, the raising of the American Flag, and a bagpipe benediction.