Whidbey Island marks Memorial Day with ceremonies from Oak Harbor to Clinton
Oak Harbor's Maple Leaf Cemetery opens Memorial Day observances at 9 a.m. for a 10 a.m. service, with ceremonies continuing in Coupeville and Clinton.
If you only make one stop for Memorial Day on Whidbey Island, Oak Harbor’s Maple Leaf Cemetery is the place to start. The 8th Annual Service of Remembrance is set for 10 a.m. May 25, with doors opening at 9 a.m., free admission, and a livestream on the Oak Harbor Memorial Day YouTube Channel.
The Oak Harbor ceremony is built as the island’s largest public observance, drawing more than 450 people a year and, in recent years, more than 500. The Pacific Northwest Naval Air Museum and American Legion George Morris Post 129 are co-hosting the service, which will include Navy Band Northwest, local veterans groups, the Oak Harbor Elks Lodge, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Oak Harbor High School Navy Junior ROTC cadets, and the George Washington Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution. Island County Gold Star families will be recognized with VIP parking and special ribbons, while NAS Whidbey sailors are scheduled to provide military funeral honors and NAS Whidbey Island Search & Rescue MH-60s will make a flyover.
Two guest voices will frame the ceremony’s meaning. Stephen Coonts is listed as guest speaker, and Capt. Nathan Gammache, who took command of Naval Air Station Whidbey Island in August 2024, is the keynote speaker. Museum director Kelly Davidson has said the point of the holiday is not only remembrance but also helping younger residents understand sacrifice and loss across generations.
Memorial Day observances then continue across the island. At 1 p.m. May 25, veterans service organizations will hold the traditional wreath-laying at Sunnyside Cemetery in Coupeville, followed by an open-house reception hosted by American Legion Post 129 at 2 p.m. in Oak Harbor. Volunteers are also expected to place and retrieve flags at Maple Leaf and Sunnyside cemeteries over the holiday weekend.
Coupeville will mark the weekend with its Memorial Day parade at 11 a.m. May 23, starting at Front and Coveland streets in historic downtown. Later on Memorial Day itself, Clinton Cemetery will hold its service at 11 a.m. at Wilson Place next to St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, and a separate 11 a.m. ceremony is also listed for Bayview Cemetery. By the time Stephen Coonts returns to the Pacific Northwest Naval Air Museum on May 28 for a ticketed presentation and book-signing, the island’s remembrance will already have stretched from Oak Harbor to Coupeville and down to Clinton, tying families, veterans and active-duty service members into one shared Memorial Day.
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