OLYMPIA—Governor Jay Inslee on Wednesday, May 22, issued a directive to all state agency facilities to lower flags to half-staff on Monday, May 27, in recognition of Memorial Day.
“I have no objection to agencies lowering the flags at the close of business on Friday, May 24, 2024,” Inslee wrote in the directive. “Flags should remain at half-staff until noon on Monday, May 27, 2024, or first thing Tuesday morning, May 28, 2024.”
Memorial Day, originally known as Decoration Day, has its origins a few years after the end of the Civil War. The holiday originally only honored those who served in the Civil War, but that changed during World War I when the focus shifted to all military service members that lost their lives in any war.
Memorial Day was first observed on May 30, and congress passed a law recognizing it as a federal holiday to be observed on the last Monday in May. This law went into effect, and Memorial Day has been a federal holiday since 1971.
The public is invited to attend a Memorial Day Ceremony to honor the brave men and women who died in war that will be held 11 a.m., Monday, May 27, Pacific Rim Plaza at the Port of Everett, located at 1028 13th Street (Pacific Rim Plaza is located on the south side of Hotel Indigo).
The ceremony will include the singing of the National Anthem, a reading of a Memorial Day Proclamation by Everett Mayor Cassie Franklin, remarks by Port of Everett Commissioner Tom Stiger, keynote speaker Captain Stacy Wuthier of Naval Station Everett, presentation of colors, taps, the playing of Amazing Grace on bag pipes, and an invocation and benediction by Chaplin Dolder.
