Event Details (U.S. National Park Service)

Fee:

Free. Always FREE!

Location:

Front lawn of the park's visitor center.

Dates & Times

Date:

Saturday, May 25, 2024

Time:

9:00 AM

Duration:

6 hours

Type of Event

Cultural/Craft Demonstration

Living History

Other

Description

Shiloh National Military Park will commemorate Memorial Day with a series of special events and commemorative activities. Join us for “In Remembrance” beginning on Saturday, May 25 at 9:00 am and ending Monday, May 27 at 4:00 pm.

Living historians will depict a military timeline on the front lawn of the Shiloh Battlefield Visitor Center from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm, on Saturday, and 9:00 am to 3:00 pm on Sunday. The timeline will feature the uniforms, equipment, and weapons from the Revolutionary War through World War II. The public is invited to engage with the military historians and explore the experiences of American soldiers through time.

This special weekend program will feature live firing demonstrations showing the evolution of shoulder firearms used by American soldiers. Live fire programs will be presented each day at 11:00 am and 2:00 pm.

The public is invited to view a temporary Memorial Day exhibit featuring several of the soldiers and sailors interred in the Shiloh National Cemetery from the Civil War through the Persian Gulf War. Visitors are also invited to add names of their veteran family members to a “memorial wall” on the final panel of the exhibit. The visitor center will be open from 9:00 am – 5:00 pm daily.

Shiloh National Military Park will officially commemorate Memorial Day by hosting remembrance ceremonies on Monday, May 27, in the Shiloh National Cemetery.

Everyone is invited to bring their lawn chairs or blankets and join us for one of the longest continually running Memorial Day services in West Tennessee. The one-hour ceremony will

start at 11:00 am, and feature a military flag presentation, music by the Kossuth High School Jazz Band and the Kossuth Middle School Singers, a keynote address, a firing salute, the laying of a wreath, and the playing of Taps.

This year’s keynote speaker will be Catherine Bragaw, Shiloh’s superintendent with 39 years of National Park Service experience. She began her career as a volunteer in 1982 at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park in West Virginia, where she helped build one of the NPS’s most respected living history programs and an award-winning education program. Bragaw’s career has also taken her to Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park in Maryland, Women’s Rights and Harriet Tubman National Historical Parks in New York, Camp Nelson National Monument, Mill Springs Battlefield National Monument and Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park all in Kentucky. She taught classes at Shepherd University as an adjunct professor.

Originally from Washington, D.C., Bragaw earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Hood College and a master’s degree in education leadership from West Virginia University. In July, Superintendent Bragaw will complete her first year as superintendent of Shiloh National Military Park.

Following the Memorial Day service, park rangers will be offering free guided programs and demonstrations in the afternoon. A complete schedule is attached to this news release and will also be available at the ranger contact station in the visitor center.