JEFFERSON CITY, MO, SEPT. 6, 2018 – Gen. John J. Pershing Boyhood Home State Historic Site will hold a ceremony to formally dedicate its new First World War Commemorative Garden 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 15, at the historic site in Laclede.
The dedication is designed to commemorate the garden as a place of solemn reflection on the many lives that were lost during the Great War. During the ceremony, soil from the first eight First World War American Cemeteries, which were established by Gen. Pershing as chairman of the American Battlefield Monument Commission, will be scattered within the historic site’s garden.
The featured speaker for the garden dedication ceremony will be Lt. Gen. Michael Lundy, commanding general of the Army Combined Arms Center and Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and commandant of the Army Command and General Staff College. Also attending the ceremony will be representatives from the following entities: Government of Belgium, American Battlefield Monuments Commission, First World War Centennial Commission, The Smithsonian Institute, American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, Military Order of the World Wars, American Field Service, and the Daughters of the American Revolution. Performing throughout the day will be the 399th Army Band from Fort Leonard Wood.
Gen. John J. Pershing Boyhood Home State Historic Site is located at 1100 Pershing Dr., Laclede. For more information about the event, contact the historic site by calling 660-963-2525
For more information on state parks and historic sites, visit mostateparks.com. Missouri State Parks is a division of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.
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