Blue Heron
05-23-2008, 05:34 PM
To all of our veterans who served any time, any where, in peace time or in war, thank you for your sacrifices, your courage and your service to our country. Thank you for our freedom.
A Parade, a Boy, a Bell
Memorial Day has always been a very special time for me. Perhaps it was because in my town, on the Hudson River a little north of NYC, we always had a parade. This was a very big deal to the whole town, especially for us kids growing up during the 1950's and 60's.
My father, who served in the Army during WWII (Okinawa), marched in the parade as a volunteer firefighter. Yes, the firefighters, the VFW, the American Legion, all the Cub, Brownie, Boy and Girl Scouts, the Little League and the elementary, junior high and high school bands marched and played too. (Whew, that was a mouthful!) Sometimes we'd really get lucky and be honored by a contingent of cadets and band, from the USMA at West Point, who would come all the way down the Hudson to march with us. There were so many people from town in the parade, it was a wonder that there was anybody left to watch it!
The parade ended at our VFW post (Veterans of Foreign War). Right next to the post was our fire house, which had a great big bell in the front, much like the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia. In the olden days before electricity, sirens and fire whistles (1880's), the bell was clanged whenever there was a fire in town. The volunteer firemen would show up in short order, hitch the horses to the fire fighting apparatus (I don’t know what you’d call it) and be off like a bat out of hell to save their neighbor’s house. But when I grew up (and to this day still) the Bell was used only once a year. It came to have a very different, yet very important duty.
Each and every year there is still a Memorial Day parade in my town. It still ends at the VFW post. It will end there tomorrow. And tomorrow, as the town gathers round, as it did in the past, names will be read from the bronze plaque that stands in front of the building. They are our names, names from our town - names of our fallen. They are names remembered from as far back as WWI. There will be fresh names to be remembered in the future. And as each name is called, the Bell will ring. The Bell will sound tomorrow, more than it ever did, on any day, when it was rung for its original purpose. And the people in the town, those who marched and those who watched, will stand in silence. They will all be touched and they will all be moved, by every name and every ring that follows. The Bell will chime tomorrow, once again, once a year, to remind us all of the courage and the ultimate sacrifices paid. And tomorrow, for those of us from that town, whether here or whether there, the Bell and our fallen will be with us, once again, once a year.
________________________________
Blue Heron
A Parade, a Boy, a Bell
Memorial Day has always been a very special time for me. Perhaps it was because in my town, on the Hudson River a little north of NYC, we always had a parade. This was a very big deal to the whole town, especially for us kids growing up during the 1950's and 60's.
My father, who served in the Army during WWII (Okinawa), marched in the parade as a volunteer firefighter. Yes, the firefighters, the VFW, the American Legion, all the Cub, Brownie, Boy and Girl Scouts, the Little League and the elementary, junior high and high school bands marched and played too. (Whew, that was a mouthful!) Sometimes we'd really get lucky and be honored by a contingent of cadets and band, from the USMA at West Point, who would come all the way down the Hudson to march with us. There were so many people from town in the parade, it was a wonder that there was anybody left to watch it!
The parade ended at our VFW post (Veterans of Foreign War). Right next to the post was our fire house, which had a great big bell in the front, much like the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia. In the olden days before electricity, sirens and fire whistles (1880's), the bell was clanged whenever there was a fire in town. The volunteer firemen would show up in short order, hitch the horses to the fire fighting apparatus (I don’t know what you’d call it) and be off like a bat out of hell to save their neighbor’s house. But when I grew up (and to this day still) the Bell was used only once a year. It came to have a very different, yet very important duty.
Each and every year there is still a Memorial Day parade in my town. It still ends at the VFW post. It will end there tomorrow. And tomorrow, as the town gathers round, as it did in the past, names will be read from the bronze plaque that stands in front of the building. They are our names, names from our town - names of our fallen. They are names remembered from as far back as WWI. There will be fresh names to be remembered in the future. And as each name is called, the Bell will ring. The Bell will sound tomorrow, more than it ever did, on any day, when it was rung for its original purpose. And the people in the town, those who marched and those who watched, will stand in silence. They will all be touched and they will all be moved, by every name and every ring that follows. The Bell will chime tomorrow, once again, once a year, to remind us all of the courage and the ultimate sacrifices paid. And tomorrow, for those of us from that town, whether here or whether there, the Bell and our fallen will be with us, once again, once a year.
________________________________
Blue Heron