Sunday morning at the cemetery on Howlett Hill Road in Syracuse, the county will mark 39 years of public ceremony at a 52-acre burial ground that has carried more than 5,000 veterans into the earth since 1986. The program is free, the parking is tight, and the rule, set by the people who run it, is to say each name aloud as a flag goes into the ground.
Truth-check: Frank Mahoney, Editor-in-Chief.
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What is happening Sunday on Howlett Hill Road
The annual Memorial Day ceremony at the Onondaga County Veterans Memorial Cemetery, 4069 Howlett Hill Road in Syracuse, NY 13215, will begin at 10 a.m. on Sunday, May 25, 2026, the day before the federal holiday. The county confirmed the date and time through the Veterans Service Agency and through coverage at CNYCentral and at WSYR-AM. The ceremony is free and open to the public, parking is limited, and county organizers have asked attendees to carpool where possible.
The event is convened by the Onondaga County Veterans Service Agency, which the county operates with seven full-time positions including a director, an assistant director, accredited veteran service officers, and support staff who process benefits claims for county residents. The public line is (315) 435-3219. The county operates a chapel on site and has eliminated the prior burial fee for qualifying veterans, their spouses, and dependent children.
A short history of the cemetery on the hill
The cemetery occupies a 52-acre site on Howlett Hill Road in the Town of Onondaga, west of the city of Syracuse, and is part of the Onondaga County Parks system. The first burial took place on June 11, 1986, when decorated World War II Navy veteran Leo McInerney was interred. Formal dedication followed on May 30, 1987, making the 2026 Memorial Day ceremony the 39th since dedication. Additions include a memorial garden in 1998, an enlarged chapel in 2000, and a memorial plaza designed by Syracuse-based Environmental Design and Research with an ADA-compliant walkway, a central plaza with flags for each military branch, and a low concrete wall with cast bronze letters.
The cemetery has performed services for more than 5,000 veterans from the Army, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard, and Air Force since opening. The Wreaths Across America chapter that places remembrance wreaths each December lists a working count of approximately 6,400 veteran graves, a figure that reflects continued burials since the 5,000 milestone was published.
Who qualifies for a plot
Eligibility is narrower than at a national cemetery operated by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs. All honorably discharged veterans are eligible for interment, but the veteran must be a current or former resident of Onondaga County. Non-residents must verify prior county residency of at least five years. Spouses and dependent children of qualifying veterans are also eligible.
Burial fees are no longer charged. The Onondaga County Legislature voted unanimously in 2019 to eliminate the previous 500 dollar burial fee, with the change taking effect May 1, 2019. Military funeral honors are arranged through the federal Department of Defense and veterans service organizations.
Why the ceremony reads names
The defining feature of the Onondaga County program is its insistence on saying each veteran’s name aloud as a flag is placed at the headstone. The work is done in the days before the public ceremony, in a small-flag tradition that the federal government calls Flags In, a practice in continuous federal observance at military cemeteries since 1948. In Onondaga County, the practice is folded into the local volunteer effort.
Anne-Marie Mancilla, director of the Onondaga County Veterans Service Agency, has described the practice in interviews with local outlets. In a 2025 interview with CNYCentral that aired ahead of the Memorial Day weekend, Mancilla said volunteers “wave the flags going in, you say the name, you reflect, and then they stay in until after Memorial Day.” She told the same outlet that the name-reading is, for some of the dead, “the last time that maybe their name is said.”
County Executive Ryan McMahon, who has spoken at the ceremony in prior years, has emphasized that the practice is meant to involve children and grandchildren of veterans. McMahon told CNYCentral in 2025 that “having young people engaged and helping tell that story, carry on for generations to come” is one of the goals of the program.
How many flags, how many graves, how many veterans
County organizers, scout troops, veterans service organizations, and unaffiliated volunteers place flags on every veteran grave in the days before Memorial Day. The working target ahead of the 2026 ceremony, per CNYCentral and WAER, is more than 6,500 flags, a figure that rises year over year as new burials are added.
The wreath count tells a parallel story. The Onondaga County chapter of Wreaths Across America, coordinated by Ellen McCauley, has set a December 19, 2026 placement date at 10 a.m. with a goal of one wreath on every veteran grave. As of late spring, the chapter reported 869 wreaths sponsored, or 13.6 percent of the 6,400-grave target. Cleanup is scheduled for January 16, 2027 at 9 a.m.
What the program has looked like in recent years
The format of the Memorial Day ceremony has been broadly consistent across recent years. Coverage of the 2025 program at WAER and at Urban CNY identified the lineup as County Executive Ryan McMahon, Onondaga County Legislature Chairman Timothy T. Burtis, assistant director of veterans services Cindy Meili, and a keynote by retired United States Navy Captain Matthew J. Doran of the Judge Advocate General Corps. The master of ceremonies was Alex Behm, executive director of Clear Path for Veterans, the nonprofit based in Chittenango, and chairman of the Onondaga County Executive Veterans Advisory Board.
CNYCentral’s 2025 coverage of the ceremony noted that thousands of attendees traveled from across Central New York, that more than 6,500 flags had been placed on graves in the days before the ceremony, and that a young speaker, Jasper Lewis, read an essay about the meaning of Memorial Day that honored his father’s Gulf War service. The county has not, as of mid-May 2026, named the keynote speaker for the 2026 ceremony in any of the public statements reviewed for this article. Inquiries to the Veterans Service Agency about the 2026 keynote were not returned by press time.
What changed at the cemetery in the past decade
The 2010s and 2020s brought visible change to the grounds: the new memorial plaza, signage with cast bronze letters, upgraded site lighting, and the 2019 fee waiver that removed the last cost barrier for qualifying families. Expansion has not been frictionless. A 2024 WSYR story reported that one section had taken on a muddy appearance during an expansion phase, drawing a complaint from a grieving family member. The county has continued to expand burial sections as the active veteran population in Central New York ages into eligibility.
How to attend, what to bring, what to expect
The cemetery sits roughly nine miles southwest of downtown Syracuse via Howlett Hill Road, in the Town of Onondaga rather than DeWitt. There is no admission charge and no required registration. Parking on the grounds fills early, and the Wreaths Across America chapter has asked attendees to carpool when possible. The 10 a.m. start is firm, and the formal program typically runs less than an hour, after which attendees can walk the grounds and visit specific graves. Worn American flags can be retired through local American Legion posts, which typically accept them during regular afternoon hours during Memorial Day weekend for proper disposal under United States Flag Code.
What the day means in Central New York
Memorial Day is a federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May, which in 2026 falls on Monday, May 26, 2026. The federal holiday traces back to the Civil War era practice of decorating soldiers’ graves, formalized in the late 19th century as Decoration Day and renamed Memorial Day in 1971. The Onondaga County ceremony is one of a series of public observances across the Syracuse area, alongside parades and ceremonies in nearly every village and town in the region.
What sets the Howlett Hill program apart from the parades is the place itself. The cemetery is a working burial ground, not a parade route. Each row of headstones marks a verifiable person who lived in Onondaga County, served in the United States military, and was carried up the hill for burial. The county’s choice to read every name aloud as a flag goes into the ground keeps the meaning of the day from being abstract. The dead were neighbors. The cemetery is what is left of the promise the country made to them when they raised their hands.
The Memorial Day ceremony begins at 10 a.m. on Sunday, May 25, 2026. Information about burial eligibility and the agency itself is available at (315) 435-3219.
Sources
- Onondaga County Veterans Service Agency, official agency page, onondaga.gov/veterans/veteransburials. Confirms fee elimination, services, contact line.
- Wreaths Across America, Onondaga County overview page, wreathsacrossamerica.org/pages/28472/Overview. Confirms 4069 Howlett Hill Road address, approximately 6,400 graves, December 19, 2026 wreath placement, January 16, 2027 cleanup, location coordinator Ellen McCauley.
- WSYR-AM 570 / iHeart, “Annual Memorial Day Ceremony at Onondaga County Veterans Memorial Cemetery,” wsyr.iheart.com. Confirms 2026 ceremony, McMahon participation.
- CNYCentral, “Onondaga County to honor veterans with Memorial Day ceremony Sunday,” cnycentral.com. Confirms May 25, 2026 at 10 a.m., 6,500 flags, Parks Commissioner Brian Kelly remarks, Ellen McCauley remarks.
- CNYCentral, “Veterans’ names remembered at Onondaga ceremony, bringing stories to life,” cnycentral.com. Confirms 2025 name-reading practice, Anne-Marie Mancilla quote, Jasper Lewis essay, 6,500 flags.
- WAER, “Onondaga County to hold annual Memorial Day ceremony Sunday morning,” waer.org. Confirms 2025 program lineup with McMahon, Burtis, Meili, keynote Capt. Matthew J. Doran USN (Ret.), MC Alex Behm.
- Urban CNY, “County Executive McMahon and Onondaga County Veterans Services Agency Announce Annual Memorial Day Ceremony,” urbancny.com. County press release record of the 2025 ceremony.
- Environmental Design and Research, “Onondaga County Veterans Memorial Cemetery” project page, edrdpc.com. Confirms 52-acre site, June 11, 1986 first burial of Leo McInerney, May 30, 1987 dedication, 1998 memorial garden, 2000 chapel, more than 5,000 services, memorial plaza features.
- Onondaga County Parks, “Cemeteries and Memorials,” onondagacountyparks.com. Confirms cemetery is in the county parks system.
- Find a Grave, Onondaga County Veterans Memorial Cemetery record, findagrave.com/cemetery/182902. Public burial record index.
