Monday's Memorial Day Parade Culminates the Events in Watertown this Weekend

Watertown's Memorial Day observances come to a crescendo on Monday at noon with the start of the Memorial Day Parade.

While the parade is the highlight of the weekend for many, the observances started earlier this week, with the placing of flags at all the cemeteries in town on Wednesday, and visits to Watertown schools by veterans on Friday.

Parade participants will gather Monday before 11 a.m. at the Tufts Health Care parking lot, at Arlington and Grove Streets. The parade moves through town on Mt. Auburn Street, turns onto Main Street and winding up at Saltonstall Park, where a brief service will be held.

Watertown's veterans will be busy this weekend. Besides marching in the parade, they will have a series of morning services and dedications on Sunday and Monday mornings. Veterans organizations will visit these locations, place wreaths, do a reading, play Taps, fire a salute. (Theses times are approximate):

• 8:30 a.m. - Coolidge Square POW/MIA Monument, no fire, no taps
• 8:45 a.m. - WWI Memorial Stone (in front of Shutt Detachment) - USMC Fires 
• 9 a.m. - Charles River Float, USMC fires
• 9:15 a.m. - World War II Memorial Stone (in front of Town Hall), VFW fires
• 9:30 a.m. - Veterans of All Wars (Saltonstall Park), VFW fires

All active military, veterans, and member of veteran organizations and auxiliaries are invited to attend a memorial service at Saint Patrick's Church at the 10 a.m. There will be a formation at the church site, after the firing at Saltonstall, where the delegation will proceed into the church for the services.

On Monday, the schedule of dedications are:

• 8:30 a.m. - Cottage Street Cemetery, USMC fires
• 8:55 a.m. - Common Street Cemetery, USMC fires
• 9:10 a.m. - Ridgelawn Cemetery, VFW fires
• 9:30 a.m. - St. Patrick's Cemetery, VFW fires