NATCHEZ &045; Dressed for one of its most solemn occasions of the year, the Natchez National Cemetery will welcome school children and other visitors to the grounds for Memorial Day weekend.

With help from Natchez firefighters, the adorning of graves with small American flags began on Thursday.

School children and others will continue the tribute today, with a total of 6,000 flags covering the grounds and marking the gravesites by the end of the day.

&uot;We’ll have an avenue of flags leading into the cemetery,&uot; said cemetery director Peter Young. &uot;We want to encourage anyone who wants to come to do so.&uot;

Memorial Day, the last Monday in May, is set aside as the official day each year to pause and remember all members of the armed services who have died in war.

For Monday’s Memorial Day service, beginning at noon, the program has been moved from the cemetery, where it usually takes place, to Memorial Park in downtown Natchez, corner of Main and Rankin streets. In the event of rain, the ceremony will move to Natchez City Auditorium on Jefferson Street.

Hoping a part of the new expansion of the cemetery would be complete to accommodate the 2003 service, Young found nevertheless that the space would not be ready.

&uot;Next year we should have a beautiful new site for staging the program,&uot; he said.

The Monday program will include patriotic music by the Natchez High School band, directed by music instructor and director Larry Buckley.

Sheila L. Johnson, program assistant at the National Cemetery, will be mistress of ceremonies.

Pastors taking part in the program include the Rev. Robert Zawacki of Holy Family Catholic Church and the Rev. Julius C. Calhoun Jr. of Better Hope Apostolic Worship Center.

Also, the Rev. Brock Watson, pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Natchez and a retired brigadier general and former chief of chaplains for the U.S. Army National Guard, will offer the Memorial Day address.

Others on the program will include military groups such as Veterans of Foreign Wars, whose Mississippi State Honor Guard will post colors.

Kwanza Cubie, a student at Vidalia High School, will lead the Pledge of Allegiance; Katie Ivory, a student at Natchez High School, will sing the national anthem.

Earl Drane, veterans service officer in Natchez, will give the keynote address. Clarence Randall of American Legion Post 590 will provide a narrative of the history of wars.