A public Memorial Day observance honoring all U.S. military service members and veterans, living and departed, will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday, May 27, at the flag circle on the Bellevue College campus.

Sponsored by the Bellevue College Association of Veterans, the event will begin with a motorcycle procession by members of the East Side Harley and Buffalo Soldiers motorcycle clubs, who will present U.S. and prisoner-of-war flags.

A flag-raising ceremony by members of the Mercer Island and Kirkland VFW posts will follow, along with singing of the national anthem by the college’s Bellevue Acapella choir and laying of memorial wreaths.

U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. (Ret.) Tom Smith, who led more than 40 F-15 jet fighter combat missions over Iraq during Operation Desert Storm, will present the keynote address. Smith, of Bellevue, later became an advisor to the Secretary of the Air Force and now practices law in Bellevue.

Other honored guests will include former World War II prisoner of war James Keeffe Jr., and former Vietnam prisoners of war Larry Writer and Joseph Crecca.

Parking for the event will be available free of charge in Lot #2 on the college campus. Lot #2 is reached by entering the college’s main entrance (at the intersection of S.E. 28th St. and 148th Ave. S.E., in Bellevue), then making a three-quarter, counterclockwise circuit around the traffic circle, exiting at the Visitor Parking directional sign. Lot #2 is the first lot on the right.