Black veterans memorial: Detroit Historical Society hosts annual remembrance at Elmwood Cemetery

For the last 25 years, the Detroit Historical Society has honored the memory of members of the 102nd U.S. Colored Infantry with a Veterans Day ceremony at Detroit’s historic Elmwood Cemetery.
 
The Black Historic Sites Committee, led by Beulah Ware Hamilton, conducts the ceremony. The ritual will be held in Section S of the cemetery, where 18 members of the 102nd Colored Infantry, which fought in the Civil War, are buried.
 
The idea was inspired by visits Beulah Hamilton made to her husband’s gravesite shortly after his death. Her husband, Karl Walker Hamilton, was an internationally noted historian and had guided numerous visits to the graves of these Civil War veterans. During visits to his grave, Hamilton noted that American flags were missing from the historic burial site of the 102nd Infantry. To honor their legacy, she decided to hold a Veteran’s Day ceremony at the gravesite each year.  

Highlights of the program include a fly-over by a U.S. Air Force fighter unit, a presentation of the American flag, a roll call for the 102nd Colored Infantry and the two Native Americans, the release of two doves to symbolize peace for Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan, the playing of “Taps.”  There will also be a mini-parade of men and women in period dress.

The Veterans Day ceremony is at Elmwood Cemetery, 1200 Elmwood St. at East Lafayette in Detroit’s Lafayette Park. Wednesday, November 11, 10 a.m.