ENTERPRISE — Veterans organizations will turn out this weekend to begin Memorial Day activities to honor veterans who have died with ceremonies and decorations at cemeteries within Wallowa County.

On Friday, May 27, members of the Enterprise Veterans of Foreign Wars Post will begin at 9 a.m. at Bramlet Memorial Cemetery off Promise Road north of Wallowa. At 10 a.m., a gathering at Wallowa Cemetery on Whiskey Creek Road followed at 11 a.m. at Lostine Cemetery on Clark Lane. At noon an event at the Enterprise Cemetery.

Memorial Day services will take place at the same times on Monday at each cemetery.

At 1 p.m. Monday, there will be the Reading of the Fallen at the Wallowa County Courthouse. The names of about 40 members of the military, first-responders and auxiliary will be read. Flags will be raised, the national anthem sung and a 21-gun salute will be fired, according to Kim Hutchison, quartermaster of the VFW post.

On Memorial Day — Monday, May 30 — the Enterprise American Legion post will hold small ceremonies at three cemeteries, where it urges the public to turn out to honor veterans who have passed,  post Commander Jeff Baty said.

The Legion will be at Alder Slope Cemetery at 10:30 a.m., at Hurricane Creek Cemetery at 11 a.m. and at the Prairie Creek Cemetery at noon.

Memorial Day, originally known as Decoration Day, was conceived after the Civil War to decorate the graves of the fallen.

This story has been updated to add more information.