Navy Night begins city’s Memorial Day weekend
Published 2:05 pm Tuesday, May 27, 2025
By HEATH HARRISON
The Ironton Tribune
A gap in the rainy weather on Thursday timed out perfectly so that the annual Navy Night ceremony on the city’s riverfront could take place.
As Ironton Mayor Sam Cramblit II pointed out, the event is the first public memorial service for Ironton’s busy weekend of events around the holiday, which concludes with the annual Ironton-Lawrence County Memorial Day Parade, the longest continuous observance of its kind in the nation.
The event began with an invocation from Chad Pemberton and the posting of the colors from Ironton VFW Post 8850.
In addition to the VFW, others returning for their yearly duties in the ceremony were the brass ensemble from Rock Hill High School, as well as Scout Troop 106, of Ironton.
The Scouts conducted a flag folding ceremony, under the direction of Dave Lucas, and their bugler played “Taps.”
Cramblit then read a proclamation proclaiming Thursday as Navy Night in the City of Ironton.
The keynote speaker for this year was LCDR Sean Dulaney, of the U.S. Navy Reserve Center in Eleanor, West Virginia.
Dulaney noted the history of Ironton, with regards to the Navy.
He pointed out that steel from the city’s then-booming iron industry was used in the USS Monitor, the U.S. Navy’s first ironclad ship, which famously battled the Confederate ship Virginia (formerly the USS Merrimack) during the Civil War.
Following Dulaney’s remarks, the Scouts carried a memorial wreath to the riverfront, where it was placed in the Ohio’s waters.
The event, which drew dozens to the river, was hosted by the parade committee and featured grand marshal Ray Jones and parade commander Lou Pyles, while retired Lawrence County Common Pleas Judge Charles Cooper returned as master of ceremonies.
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