Some of the hundreds of veterans in the Chilkat Valley are preparing to honor the more than 1 million women and men who died in service to the country since the Civil War. 

Terry Pardee raises the flag during the Memorial Day ceremony at Jones Point Cemetery on Monday, May 31. (Kyle Clayton photo)
Terry Pardee raises the flag during the Memorial Day ceremony at Jones Point Cemetery on Monday, May 31. (Kyle Clayton photo)

Memorial Day ceremonies and gun salutes are scheduled May 27 at Jones Point Cemetery at 11 a.m. and Klukwan at 1 p.m. 

Terry Pardee, with the Lynn Canal American Legion Post in Haines, said a group will be at the cemetery early to put new flags on the graves of local veterans. 

Pardee, who served in Vietnam, said the turnout can be weather dependent, but often they’ll have 40-100 people to mark the occasion. 

Some 12% of Haines Borough’s population are veterans according to the U.S. Census Bureau. 

Rashah McChesney is a multimedia journalist and editor who has reported and edited newsrooms from the Deep South to the Midwest to Alaska. For the past decade, she has worked in collaborative news as the...