BERLIN \u2014 The Town of Berlin is inviting residents to gather Monday and honor military service members during the annual Memorial Day Parade and ceremony at the Berlin Veterans Memorial Park.<\/p>\n
The traditional parade will begin at 9 a.m. at St. Paul\u2019s Church on Peck Street in Kensington.<\/p>\n
Marchers will travel down Farmington Avenue, turn left onto Massirio Drive, pass the Berlin Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 10732, then continue onto Veterans Way before ending at the Berlin Veterans Memorial Park.<\/p>\n
A Memorial Day ceremony will take place at the park from about 9:45 to 10:05 a.m. The event will include an invocation by Clifford P. Cote, a U.S. Air Force veteran and a benediction by Father Michael of St. Paul\u2019s Church.<\/p>\n
If it rains, the ceremony will be moved indoors to Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 10732, 152 Massirio Drive, at 9 a.m.<\/p>\n
Music performances will feature the Berlin High School Madrigal Singers, directed by Tyler Boyle, singing the \u201cNational Anthem\u201d and \u201cAmerica the Beautiful.\u201d The Berlin High School Saxophone Quartet, directed by Christopher Dresko, will perform an \u201cArmed Forces Medley.\u201d<\/p>\n
A rifle volley will be presented by members of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 10732 and American Legion Post 68. Taps will be played by Berlin High School trumpeters Maggie Yantz and Maja Kiczuk.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis year\u2019s guest speakers will be John S. Carragher, deputy commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Veterans Affairs, serving over 39 years of service to state and nation, and Nicholas Barwikowski, Berlin resident, serving over 24 years in the military,\u201d organizers said.<\/p>\n
Carragher was appointed deputy commissioner on Nov. 1, 2025. In his role, he oversees support services for the department, including facilities management, food service, safety, security and community outreach. He also advises elected officials and veterans organizations on military and veteran issues.<\/p>\n
Carragher enlisted in the Connecticut National Guard in 1982 as a military police soldier. During his more than 39 years of service, he held leadership positions throughout the Connecticut National Guard and served in operations connected to Desert Shield\/Storm, Noble Eagle and Iraqi Freedom. He also supported missions in Panama and Louisiana, after Hurricane Katrina, and airport security operations in Connecticut.<\/p>\n
His military honors include the Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star Medal and several other service awards.<\/p>\n
Barwikowski grew up in Berlin and graduated from Berlin High School in 2001. While in high school, he played baseball and football and served as captain of the indoor track team. He later served more than 24 years in the military, deploying four times and spending more than 45 months in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait.<\/p>\n
During his military career, Barwikowski held several leadership roles, including rifle company commander, battalion operations officer and commander of the U.S. Army SERE School. His honors include the Bronze Star Medal, five Meritorious Service Medals and the Army Commendation Medal for Valor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BERLIN \u2014 The Town of Berlin is inviting residents to gather Monday and honor military service members during…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":90154,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[99],"tags":[47629,47631,112,29501,47630,47613,47626,47623,47621,47620,47617,47618,47632,47628,190,47619,37280,47624,47614,47612,44532,47622,47627,47625,47615,47616],"class_list":["post-90153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-berlin","tag-152-massirio-drive","tag-american-legion-post-68","tag-berlin","tag-berlin-high-school","tag-berlin-high-school-madrigal-singers","tag-berlin-high-school-saxophone-quartet","tag-berlin-veterans-memorial-park","tag-berlin-veterans-of-foreign-wars-post-10732","tag-christopher-dresko","tag-clifford-p-cote","tag-connecticut-department-of-veterans-affairs","tag-connecticut-national-guard","tag-deputy-commissioner","tag-father-michael","tag-germany","tag-john-s-carragher","tag-kensington","tag-maggie-yantz","tag-maja-kiczuk","tag-memorial-day","tag-memorial-day-parade","tag-nicholas-barwikowski","tag-peck-street","tag-st-pauls-church","tag-tyler-boyle","tag-u-s-air-force"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90153"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90153\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}