Memorial Day services scheduled for Fernley, county sites

Memorial Day services at the Northern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Fernley and three cemeteries in Churchill County are slated for Monday.

NNVMC spokesman Darin Farr said Memorial Day observances in Fernley will feature Gov. Joe Lombardo as he delivers the keynote address at 11 a.m. Lombardo served in both the U.S. Army and Nevada Army National Guard, and for 26 years, he served in the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department before his selection as Clark County sheriff in 2014.

Lombardo, who was elected governor in 2022, comes from a military family. His father was stationed at Nellis Air Force Base outside of Las Vegas.

Part of Monday’s ceremony at Fernley will involve the arrival of the Truckee Meadows Veterans Club (Truckee Meadows Community College) and the University of Nevada, Reno Veteran and Military Center to the NNVMC. Operation Battle Born: Ruck to Remember 2023 is honoring the heroes from both the Global War on Terrorism and Vietnam.

The three-day, 60-mile march begins Saturday at 8 a.m. near the Capitol. The first ruck march was conducted in 2018, and for the inaugural event, veterans and volunteers marched from Southern Nevada and exchanged the dog tags at a midway point to Fernley.

Veterans volunteers will carry more than 7,000 dog tags with the names of service members who died as a result of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Fifty-eight Nevadans have died since Sept. 11, 2001. During the Vietnam War that spanned 20 years, 151 Nevadans died.

The veterans and volunteers will take turns carrying two rucksacks that contain the dog tags.

In Churchill County, members from the various veterans’ organizations will conduct three ceremonies. The first ceremony begins at 11 a.m. at the Churchill County Cemetery followed by noon at the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe's cemetery. The third ceremony is held at The Gardens east of Fallon.