By PATRICIA DOVE
Memorial Day is for remembering and honoring military veterans. This day is for the soldiers who died while protecting their country, especially the ones who died in battle.
This Memorial Day, Haddonfield is pulling out all the stops. There will be many events over the days before Memorial Day and on that Monday.
On Friday, May 24, American Legion Post 38 members will place flags at Baptist and Methodist Cemeteries at 6:30 p.m. On Sunday, May 26, Post 38 will participate in a local church service at Christ the King Church at 11 a.m.
On Monday, May 27, there are a number of events happening. First, Post 38 will have a breakfast from 7–9 a.m. for Post 38 members, their guests and prospective members.
Following the breakfast will be the Memorial Day Parade, scheduled to start promptly at 10 a.m. The parade will start at Kings Highway and Chestnut Street facing Haddonfield Memorial High School. The parade will end at the high school where a memorial service will be conducted.
“We send out a station wagon with Post 38 members and some members of the Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts to hand out flags to the viewers of the parade,” said Tom Baird, chairman of Post 38. “We usually do this about 15 minutes before the parade starts.”
The parade will include the Post 38 Color Guard and members of the Post, the high school marching band, the mayor and commissioners, and the memorial service flag presenters, which include Daughters of the American Revolution, War of 1812 and Ladies of the Grand Army of the Republic.
Also to be in the parade are the Girl Scouts, Boy Scout Troops 64 and 65, Cub Scout Packs 64 and 65, the Jack Schweiker Composite Unit of the Civil Air Patrol, an apparatus of Haddon Fire Co. No 1 and the Ambulance Association.
“Before the parade begins, some members from Post 38 will have a ceremony at our Post and ring the bell for those lost in the past year in battle,” Baird said.
The memorial service that follows will honor the fallen men and women of nine wars, from the American Revolution to the present-day conflict in Afghanistan. The service will include normal military honors, chaplain’s prayers, remarks by Post 38 Commander Brian Fitzgerald, remarks by the mayor and placement of the flags for each war.
“First thing in the morning, before the Post 38 breakfast starts, I come down to get everything prepared for the ceremony,” Baird said. “I replace the flag holders in the ground, and get them all ready for the new flags that will be placed there during the ceremony.”
During the ceremony, there is also a reading of “In Flanders Field” by the HMHS Honor Society and music by the Pick-Up Band. Refreshments are served following the ceremony. If the parade is canceled due to inclement weather, the ceremony will be held in the high school auditorium at 11 a.m. For more information, call Baird at 428–4070.
