The City of Asheville is proud to join the State of North Carolina, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Veterans Council, and Buncombe County in sponsoring the 2026 Memorial Day Ceremony. The event will be held at 10 a.m. Monday, May 25 at the Western North Carolina State Veterans Cemetery, 962 West Old Highway 70, Black Mountain, N.C.
This year’s keynote speaker will be Iraq and Afghanistan Combat Veteran Emiliano Enea. Enea is a board member of Brothers and Sisters Like These, a veteran writing group that uses the craft of writing as a means of healing the wounds of war.
Additional speakers include: United States Air Force Flight Nurse Monica Blankenship, and Iraq and Afghanistan veteran and purple heart recipient Alfredo Hurtado. Hurtado is a co-founder of Raleigh’s Black Box Dance Theater, dedicated to illuminating through dance the strength, vulnerability and humanity of veterans’ stories.
All members of the public are invited to attend the ceremony honoring military personnel who have died while performing their military duties while serving in the United States Armed Forces.
A recording of the ceremony will be available on the City of Asheville YouTube channel at 3 p.m.