Oxford, Lafayette County to hold Memorial Day ceremony Monday
Oxford and Lafayette County will gather at 11 a.m. Monday at the National Guard Armory, where Chris Berry will join a ceremony honoring fallen service members.
Fallen service members will be honored in Oxford when residents of Oxford and Lafayette County gather for the annual Memorial Day Ceremony at 11 a.m. Monday, May 25, 2026, at the Mississippi Army National Guard Armory on Ed Perry Boulevard. Veterans Benefits Specialist Chris Berry is expected to take part, adding a veterans-services component to the community observance.
The armory has long served as a familiar place for military remembrance in Oxford. It hosted a Memorial Day Recognition Ceremony in 2016 at 10 a.m., and Oxford later held Memorial Day gatherings at Veterans Park and the Veteran Building at 125 Veterans Dr., including observances in 2023 and 2024. A Veterans Day ceremony at the armory in 2025 reinforced its role as a recurring civic-military meeting place for the city.
Oxford’s Memorial Day observances have also carried a local history that reaches beyond the ceremony itself. In 2016, organizers said the names of veterans who had died in the previous 12 months were compiled by the Lafayette County Historical and Genealogical Society, and a wreath dedication was later placed at the Lafayette County Courthouse. In 2023, the Memorial Day celebration at Veterans Park was sponsored by Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3978, Disabled American Veterans Chapter 48, American Legion Post 55 and the Marine Corps League Det. 1431, with the event scheduled from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The following year, another Veterans Park ceremony was set for 11 a.m. with Colonel David McElreath as speaker.
Memorial Day falls on the last Monday in May and is the nation’s foremost annual day to mourn and honor deceased service men and women, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Across the country, 129 national cemeteries were scheduled to host public Memorial Day commemoration ceremonies in 2026, placing Oxford’s observance within a broader tradition of remembrance that continues to have a clear local center on Ed Perry Boulevard.
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