LEWISTON – Decoration Day, May 30, was observed at an authentic Civil War memorial service at the gravesite of two Civil War veterans at the Riverside Cemetery.

The program opened with the Pledge of Allegiance and the singing of the “Star-Spangled Banner.”

The invocation was delivered by the Rev. Donald Miller, commander, U.S. Chaplain Corps (ret.). American Legion Post 22 Commander Richard Giem recited Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address.

Jerry DerBoghosian, president, USS Canberra Association, read the orders of Gen. John Logan, Grand Army of the Republic, setting aside May 30, 1868, as Decoration Day (now known as Memorial Day).

Giem read a letter from a Civil War soldier written from a battlefield of the Civil War. Larry Mayes, Post 9150, Veterans of Foreign Wars, standing at the gravesite of George Leland, gunner, U.S. Navy, told of how he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his heroic action in November 1863 in Charleston, S.C., harbor. DerBoghosian spoke about Stephen Marinner, who died at the age of 20 as a prisoner of war in Salisbury Prison.

The assembly sang the “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” American flags were placed on the graves, followed by the singing of “God Bless America.”