After a day of wet weather, the rain held its fire, the clouds stood aside, and the sun broke through just in time for evening Memorial Day observances in Wellesley. The yearly solemn occasion honors those who died while serving in the U.S. military. About 100 people were in attendance at the event held at the War Memorial in front of Town Hall including ceremony participants, the Wellesley High School band, and observers.

Memorial Day, Royall Switzler — Army Sergeant Royall Switzler looks on as Scouts from Troop 182 lead the crowd in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. From left: Elan Usmani, Matthew Johnson, Sofia Caetano.

The Wellesley High School Band played the National Anthem and America the Beautiful, written in 1893 by Wellesley’s own Katharine Lee Bates. Near the end of the ceremony, Taps was played twice—first by a WHS trumpeter among the crowd, echoed by a solitary trumpeter on the hill in front of Town Hall.

Memorial Day, Wellesley High School. Band

Rabbi Moshe Bleich of Wellesley Weston Chabad offered prayers; State Representative Alice Peisch presented Governor Maura Healey’s Memorial Day proclamation; MassBay history professor and Navy veteran John Dirlam reflected on the meaning of Memorial Day, as did Wellesley Police Department Lieutenant and veteran Bob Gallagher.

Memorial Day, Fire Dept, Color Guard, Wellesley — Memorial Day, Fire Department and Color Guard.

Korean War veteran John Saunders read the names of all Wellesley citizens who died in the service during the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and those who died in active duty during peacetime, and on September 11, 2001. Roy Switzler read the list of Wellesley’s veterans who have died in the past year.

Memorial Day, Wellesley, Select Board — From left: Select Board member Marjorie Freiman; State Rep. Alice Peisch; Select Board members Lise Olney and Colette Aufranc; Select Board Chair Tom Ulfelder; and Select Board member Beth Sullivan Woods.

Select Board member Beth Sullivan Woods announced the recipient of the War Memorial Scholarship Award. Charlie Carroll, who will attend the University of Denver in the fall, was granted $10k to go toward his college expenses. The War Memorial Scholarship is awarded yearly to one or more applicants with an interest in the military or who have had close relatives who are, or were, veterans.

Because Charlie’s attendance was required at Prom, he was unable to attend the Memorial Day ceremony. But nobody held that against the young man who co-founded the Wellesley Wounded Warrior Project Club, which works to raise money for wounded veterans.