The newly renovated Soldiers Memorial Military Museum is hosting its first-ever Memorial Day ceremony following its reopening late last year.
The Memorial Day Flag and Remembrance Ceremony will be held on Monday, May 27, beginning at 10 a.m. in the Court of Honor. Located across Chestnut Street from the museum, the Court of Honor was created as the city’s World War II memorial in 1948. The memorials were later expanded to include men and women from the St Louis area who lost their lives during or because of the Korean and Vietnam wars.
For the first time in decades, the names of St. Louis service members who lost their lives as a result of more recent conflicts will be added to the Court of Honor. A list of 554 names to be added will be read publicly during the Memorial Day ceremony. The names will then be engraved over the summer and officially unveiled at a formal ceremony to take place during Veterans Day week in November.
The addition of names to the previous Court of Honor memorials (World War II, Korea and Vietnam) was a one-time event following specific wars. Moving forward, engravings will be added annually. The museum will accept submissions of names to be added to the Court of Honor on an ongoing basis.
Those who wish to submit the name of a service member for inclusion on the memorials in the Court of Honor, or who would like to submit a correction to a name, should contact Soldiers Memorial Site Coordinator Molly Rose via email, mrose@mohistory.org, or by phone, (314) 818-6784. The deadline for 2019 additions to the Court of Honor is Monday, July 8.
Soldiers Memorial Military Museum, operated by the Missouri Historical Society, reopened in November 2018 after a three-year, $30-million renovation.
