General News: Memorial Day Events All Weekend in Cornwall
A ceremony on Saturday will mark the dedication of the renovated American Legion Post 353.
May 20, 2009
Memorial Day is a time to honor those who died fighting for the United State and, this year, the American Legion Post 353 is featuring a special weekend of events, beginning with a dedication on Saturday of its newly renovated headquarters in River Light Park in Cornwall. Post commander Jim Kline says that the legion building has a new kitchen and new paint, thanks to the work of scouts, members, and a grant from N.Y. State Assemblywoman Nancy Calhoun.
Assemblywoman Calhoun will be in attendance at the dedication ceremony at 10 a.m. ceremony, where the Legion will provide coffee and sweets. Anyone who would like to volunteer to help place flags on the graves of veterans throughout Cornwall are asked to come to the Legion post headquarters at 10 a.m. Commander Klein says that there are hundreds of graves that will be honored by the placement of the American flag this Memorial Day weekend.
The public is invited to return on Sunday, May 23, for a breakfast to be served from 8 to 11 a.m. Legion post members are going to make good use of their new kitchen by cooking up eggs, pancakes, waffles and all the fixings. The cost is $8 per person.
On Monday, the Memorial Day parade kicks off at 10 a.m. from Payson Road in Cornwall-on-Hudson. After a brief stop to lay a wreath at the World War I memorial at Cornwall-on-Hudson Elementary School, the parade will make its way down Hudson Street to Main Street. At the Chadeayne traffic circle, the parade circles back down Broadway to the Veteran’s Memorial across from Town Hall, where the American Legion will lead the traditional Memorial Day service.
Memorial Day, originally known as Decoration Day, took on special significance after World War I, when it started honoring U.S. soldiers who died on foreign battlefields. Here in Cornwall, a filmmaker covered the parade of 1920 and leaves this remembrance, now posted to youtube, for all to share. In it, you will see how the crowds came out, the memories of war still fresh, and observed a French diplomat bestow a captured German gun to the town. (Click here to read more descriptions of what is occurring in the film and comments from viewers.)
Here's the film:
Comments:
What a treasure this video is Nancy! Thanks so much for bringing it to us on your website. I am amazed by how dressed up everyone is and the size of the crowd.....we can learn from history and here is a perfect example!
The tall May grass, the open spaces, the exhaust-belching fire engines, the horses, the familiar old buildings, the lost ones...
And, oh, the finery and obvious solemnity of the celebration! It should be set in context and viewed in social studies classes here -- and even elsewhere. Not every Memorial Day includes the gift of an enemy howitzer from a foreign theater, but it's important every year for us all to honor those who served -- and particularly remember those who didn't get to come home.
