- December 15, 2025
The event will include flyovers, bands and special ceremonies.
Wayne Grant
News Editor
When Vicki Leignadier, of Ormond Beach, handles her master of ceremonies duties at the May 25 Memorial Day Ceremonies at Rockefeller Gardens, she’ll need skills similar to those learned in her 31-year military career.
As a transport officer, she said she “moved things” via train, truck or boat. At the Memorial Day ceremonies, she’ll move bands, color guards and more in an orchestrated event honoring those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice while serving in uniform.
“It’s just a beautiful ceremony,” she said recently. “It’s so respectful and so meaningful.”
The 90-minute event starts at 9 a.m. and includes military songs by the Daytona Beach Concert Band, a procession of numerous color guards, Boy and Girl Scouts, the raising and lowering of the flag, a flyover and a special recognition of three World War II combat Marines, who will participate in laying the memorial wreath.
The crowd will be able to offer their own personal thank you. When arriving, everyone will be given a carnation, and at the end will be able to drop the flowers off at a Memorial Marker.
The ceremony has grown since being relocated from City Hall Plaza in 2011, and it’s a big task to keep things running smoothly, but Leignadier, did a great job last year, according to Paul McCauley, chairman of the volunteer Memorial Remembrance Committee that organizes the event.
When it was over last year, McCauley asked her what she thought.
“She said, ‘That was fun,’” McCauley laughed. “Nobody ever said that before.”
McCauley said from talking to people around the state, be believes it’s the largest Memorial Day ceremony in Florida, drawing as many as 2,000 people.
The guest speaker will be Capt. Mark Leary, U.S. Navy. In 2001, Leary was navigator of the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy and deployed for air strikes in Afghanistan, and in 2005, he was Commander of U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay. In 2009, he assumed command of the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps unit at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
‘The Army has more boats than the Navy’
Leignadier, 58, retired to Ormond Beach four years ago after a 31-year career in the Army. After graduating from the Florida Institute of Technology with a degree in oceanography in 1979, she decided to the join the Army and was commissioned a second lieutenant.
“I was going to join the Navy but the Army said they had more boats than the Navy,” she said. She found out boats are small vessels that can be placed on ships, and while the Navy has a lot of ships, the Army had more small boats for supply and other operations.
While in the service, she attained master’s degrees in strategic studies and public administration and retired with the rank of colonel.
“I found the Army was my niche,” she said. “It was fun for me.”
When she started, it hadn’t been long since women only served as nurses and clerks in the WACS. She said there was some resistance from some men at first, but she gained self-confidence as she mastered her job.
“I was able to overcome any challenges,” she said.
She was in Iraq in 2003 where she helped to find a port for U.S. cargo, and supported NATO operations in Kosovo and Albania in the 1980s.
When she looks back on the military, she said she misses the camaraderie, saying it’s like a family, and she recommends it for young people.
“The military has a lot to offer,” she said. “It opens your eyes and expands your horizons.”
She finds it an honor to participate in the Memorial Day ceremony.
“You never want to forget the sacrifices that have been made for the cause of freedom,” she said.
For information about the event, call 676-3241.
