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In pictures: 1,000 attend poignant Memorial Day service at Cambridge American Cemetery




The Cambridge American Cemetery on Madingley Road held its Memorial Day service on Monday (27 May) and it was all the more poignant this year as 2024 marks 80 years since the D-Day landings.

Memorial Day is held each year on the last Monday in May, and attendees at this week’s service in Cambridge included the Vice Lord-Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire, Brigadier Tim Seal TD DL; Captain Gregory Leland, from the US Embassy; Colonel Ryan J Garlow, commander of the 100th Air Refueling Wing with the Royal Air Force at Mildenhall; the new mayor of Cambridge, Cllr Baiju Thittala Varkey; the High Sheriff of Cambridgeshire, David Way; and the vice-chancellor of the University of Cambridge, Prof Deborah Prentice.

The Memorial Day event at the American Cemetery, Madingley. Picture: Keith Heppell
The Memorial Day event at the American Cemetery, Madingley. Picture: Keith Heppell

Tracey Haylock, cemetery associate, said the service was attended by about 1,000 people and was “very poignant, as it always is”.

She said that there was “a lot of support from the Bomb Group Associations, for all these volunteer museums that they have at the old airbases out in East Anglia, Suffolk, and in Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire”, adding: “They all lay a wreath, and the wreaths are marched in with help from the American bases as well, especially RAF Mildenhall and Lakenheath.

“It was a great event; there was a flyby from RAF Lakenheath and Mildenhall as well.”

The Memorial Day event at the American Cemetery, Madingley. Picture: Keith Heppell
The Memorial Day event at the American Cemetery, Madingley. Picture: Keith Heppell
The Memorial Day event at the American Cemetery, Madingley. Picture: Keith Heppell
The Memorial Day event at the American Cemetery, Madingley. Picture: Keith Heppell
The Memorial Day event at the American Cemetery, Madingley. Picture: Keith Heppell
The Memorial Day event at the American Cemetery, Madingley. Picture: Keith Heppell
The Memorial Day event at the American Cemetery, Madingley. Picture: Keith Heppell
The Memorial Day event at the American Cemetery, Madingley. Picture: Keith Heppell
The Memorial Day event at the American Cemetery, Madingley. Picture: Keith Heppell
The Memorial Day event at the American Cemetery, Madingley. Picture: Keith Heppell
The Memorial Day event at the American Cemetery, Madingley. Picture: Keith Heppell
The Memorial Day event at the American Cemetery, Madingley. Picture: Keith Heppell
The Memorial Day event at the American Cemetery, Madingley. Picture: Keith Heppell
The Memorial Day event at the American Cemetery, Madingley. Picture: Keith Heppell
The Memorial Day event at the American Cemetery, Madingley. Picture: Keith Heppell
The Memorial Day event at the American Cemetery, Madingley. Picture: Keith Heppell
The Memorial Day event at the American Cemetery, Madingley. Picture: Keith Heppell
The Memorial Day event at the American Cemetery, Madingley. Picture: Keith Heppell
The Memorial Day event at the American Cemetery, Madingley. Picture: Keith Heppell
The Memorial Day event at the American Cemetery, Madingley. Picture: Keith Heppell
The Memorial Day event at the American Cemetery, Madingley. Picture: Keith Heppell
The Memorial Day event at the American Cemetery, Madingley. Picture: Keith Heppell

Previously known as ‘Decoration Day’ and started after the American Civil War when the first national celebration held at Arlington National Cemetery took place on 30 May, 1868, the day later became Memorial Day.

In 1971, federal law changed the observance to the last Monday in May.

The day of remembrance honours all those who died in service to the US, during peacetime and war, while Veterans Day, on 11 November, celebrates the service of all US military veterans.

The Memorial Day event at the American Cemetery, Madingley. Picture: Keith Heppell
The Memorial Day event at the American Cemetery, Madingley. Picture: Keith Heppell
The Memorial Day event at the American Cemetery, Madingley. Picture: Keith Heppell
The Memorial Day event at the American Cemetery, Madingley. Picture: Keith Heppell
The Memorial Day event at the American Cemetery, Madingley. Picture: Keith Heppell
The Memorial Day event at the American Cemetery, Madingley. Picture: Keith Heppell
The Memorial Day event at the American Cemetery, Madingley. Picture: Keith Heppell
The Memorial Day event at the American Cemetery, Madingley. Picture: Keith Heppell
The Memorial Day event at the American Cemetery, Madingley. Picture: Keith Heppell
The Memorial Day event at the American Cemetery, Madingley. Picture: Keith Heppell
The Memorial Day event at the American Cemetery, Madingley. Picture: Keith Heppell
The Memorial Day event at the American Cemetery, Madingley. Picture: Keith Heppell
The Memorial Day event at the American Cemetery, Madingley. Picture: Keith Heppell
The Memorial Day event at the American Cemetery, Madingley. Picture: Keith Heppell
The Memorial Day event at the American Cemetery, Madingley. Picture: Keith Heppell
The Memorial Day event at the American Cemetery, Madingley. Picture: Keith Heppell
The Memorial Day event at the American Cemetery, Madingley. Picture: Keith Heppell
The Memorial Day event at the American Cemetery, Madingley. Picture: Keith Heppell
The Memorial Day event at the American Cemetery, Madingley. Picture: Keith Heppell
The Memorial Day event at the American Cemetery, Madingley. Picture: Keith Heppell
The Memorial Day event at the American Cemetery, Madingley. Picture: Keith Heppell
The Memorial Day event at the American Cemetery, Madingley. Picture: Keith Heppell
The Memorial Day event at the American Cemetery, Madingley. Picture: Keith Heppell
The Memorial Day event at the American Cemetery, Madingley. Picture: Keith Heppell

For more on the Cambridge American Cemetery, visit abmc.gov/Cambridge.



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