Carbondale to host annual Memorial Day service at historic Woodlawn Cemetery

FOX23 News at 9 p.m.

CARBONDALE, Ill. (KBSI) — Carbondale’s annual Memorial Day Service will be held at 10 a.m. Monday, May 25, at Woodlawn Cemetery.

The ceremony will feature a keynote address from Desert Storm Army veteran Dr. Randy Burnside. Members of the Fire and Police Department honor guards will provide flag services, while Pastor Darryl Cox will deliver the invocation and benediction. The 31st Illinois Volunteer Infantry, Company C, also will participate with Civil War reenactments.

City officials noted the event continues a long-standing tradition tied to one of the nation’s earliest Memorial Day observances. The first memorial service in Illinois honoring Civil War soldiers was held at Woodlawn Cemetery on April 29, 1866, led by Union Army Gen. John A. Logan and Col. E.J. Ingersoll.

Following the Civil War, Logan became commander of the Grand Army of the Republic and later established Memorial Day through General Order No. 11 in 1868, designating May 30 as a National Day of Remembrance.

Woodlawn Cemetery was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985 and designated a Carbondale Historic Landmark in 1994.