A good friend of mine heads up the honor guard that goes to the cemeteries on Memorial day and renders honors to our veterans. It is a noble task and one I'm certain he is proud to do. I am proud to say he is a friend. He tells me they will visit thirteen cemeteries this Memorial day. A fitting number I would say. Thirteen like the thirteen original colonies and the thirteen stripes on the Flag. Coincidence? I'm guessing that it is. Where there more cemeteries in the town I'm certain they would all be visited.
I began thinking about that yesterday. I tried naming those thirteen cemeteries in what was my home town. Sadly, I was unable to do so. I thought some more about that and began to realize how little I was told about any of that. East Hampton was the first English settlement in America. Folks have lived and died there for a very long time. Soldiers from every war are buried there. Our military members have been honored ever since the founding of the town. I remember with a touch of sentimentality the parades and speeches on the village green. I remember seeing my friends fathers marching in those parades. It was an impressive sight. There was no doubt, no question that the United States of America, in her righteous might, would defend freedom forever! Yes lives were lost but no one questioned that, it was a part of war. When old glory passed by, hats came off, hands over hearts and our heads were held just a little higher. God Bless America!
The majority of my family lie in Cedar lawn cemetery. A place visited often when I was young. Every holiday we went and visited. I knew the headstone of my paternal grandfather, with its' anchor and rope engraved upon it. I never knew Grandfather Reichart as he passed long before my birth. I was familiar with others in there as well. Oh, I have ancestors buried all over the town of East Hampton but I didn't know that then. In the old north end cemetery lies my great great grandmother Sarah, her daughter buried next to her. They lie in the shadow of the mill. Old Hook mill it is called and sits atop a hill, a part of the village green. It is beside this mill that ceremonies are held. How many Memorial days have they witnessed? They have been there for every one! I have ancestors that lie in Northwest woods, their markers are there and little else remains. They were there during the revolution, they were there when independence was won.
Sadly there is little ceremony here in Greensboro, Md. We did have a parade for Veterans day, once. Even the VFW closed its' doors some time back, lack of interest. I asked for volunteers, veterans who would march, and received no responses, none, zip, zero. I admit to being disappointed and disgusted. I haven't mentioned it since. Memorial day will come and go once again and taps will not be heard over the cemetery. No 21 gun salute. The historical society will place flags on the graves of all known veterans and that will be the extent of it. I can't play a bugle or a trumpet. But perhaps I should just go there Memorial Day, in the morning and play Taps on my phone to honor the fallen. It does have to start somewhere.
I began thinking about that yesterday. I tried naming those thirteen cemeteries in what was my home town. Sadly, I was unable to do so. I thought some more about that and began to realize how little I was told about any of that. East Hampton was the first English settlement in America. Folks have lived and died there for a very long time. Soldiers from every war are buried there. Our military members have been honored ever since the founding of the town. I remember with a touch of sentimentality the parades and speeches on the village green. I remember seeing my friends fathers marching in those parades. It was an impressive sight. There was no doubt, no question that the United States of America, in her righteous might, would defend freedom forever! Yes lives were lost but no one questioned that, it was a part of war. When old glory passed by, hats came off, hands over hearts and our heads were held just a little higher. God Bless America!
The majority of my family lie in Cedar lawn cemetery. A place visited often when I was young. Every holiday we went and visited. I knew the headstone of my paternal grandfather, with its' anchor and rope engraved upon it. I never knew Grandfather Reichart as he passed long before my birth. I was familiar with others in there as well. Oh, I have ancestors buried all over the town of East Hampton but I didn't know that then. In the old north end cemetery lies my great great grandmother Sarah, her daughter buried next to her. They lie in the shadow of the mill. Old Hook mill it is called and sits atop a hill, a part of the village green. It is beside this mill that ceremonies are held. How many Memorial days have they witnessed? They have been there for every one! I have ancestors that lie in Northwest woods, their markers are there and little else remains. They were there during the revolution, they were there when independence was won.
Sadly there is little ceremony here in Greensboro, Md. We did have a parade for Veterans day, once. Even the VFW closed its' doors some time back, lack of interest. I asked for volunteers, veterans who would march, and received no responses, none, zip, zero. I admit to being disappointed and disgusted. I haven't mentioned it since. Memorial day will come and go once again and taps will not be heard over the cemetery. No 21 gun salute. The historical society will place flags on the graves of all known veterans and that will be the extent of it. I can't play a bugle or a trumpet. But perhaps I should just go there Memorial Day, in the morning and play Taps on my phone to honor the fallen. It does have to start somewhere.
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