On Memorial Day, experience something rare.
Whether you are at the Shore or in the backyard barbequing or
just chilling with friends watching the Indianapolis 500 or
Coca-Cola 600, at 3 p.m. Monday join the rest of the nation in a
moment of silence to honor fallen soldiers.
Calls for a national moment of silence occur only twice a year –
on Memorial Day and every Sept. 11, to honor the victims of the
terrorist attacks in 2001.
So, as you celebrate the unofficial beginning of summer, keep in
mind “One Nation, One Moment” by bowing your head, putting your
hand over your heart, saluting or saying a prayer.
And don’t forget to place your American flag at half-staff in
the morning to honor the men and women who sacrificed their lives
while serving their country. Raise it to the top at noon with a vow
to continue their fight to make the world a better place.
The National Moment of Remembrance was established by an act of
Congress in 2000 to keep the real meaning of Memorial Day
alive.
And besides the traditional observances at cemeteries and with
parades, modern, technology-savvy America is doing just that on the
Internet, too. More than 9 million hits show up when you Google
Memorial Day.
Participants in the first official Memorial Day, after the Civil
War in the late 1860s, never would have imaged a Facebook page
devoted to the National Moment of Remembrance. It’s called No
Greater Love.
And Bucks County residents will remember the fallen throughout
this holiday weekend with most of the events listed below and
parade routes shown in the map on A6.
BENSALEM
Veterans of Foreign Wars posts in Andalusia and Eddington will
team up once again Monday, the official Memorial Day holiday, for
the annual parade through Bensalem.
The day’s festivities begin with a 9 a.m. prayer service outside
the Eddington post at 1236 Lavender Road. An hour later, at 10
a.m., the posts will together lead a parade down Bristol Pike from
the Suzuki Fun Center, 2639 Route 13, to the city line at
Philadelphia.
BRISTOL
The Robert W. Bracken American Legion Post No. 382 in the
borough will hold services beginning at 9 a.m. Monday at the
Harriman Monument on the corner of Farragut Avenue and Monroe
Street.
Services will then be held at St. Mark’s Church on Radcliffe
Street at 9:30 a.m. and St. James Church on Walnut and Cedar
Streets at 10 a.m. Events will conclude at 11 a.m. at Bristol
Cemetery on Route 13.
BRISTOL TOWNSHIP
John Billington VFW Post No. 6495 will hold a memorial service
at 11 a.m. Monday at the post, 1605 Haines Road in the Levittown
section of Bristol Township. The post also will take part in other
services beginning at 8 a.m. at the American Legion Post No. 960,
1537 Woodbourne Road, and then at Emilie United Methodist Church,
7300 New Falls Road.
The Croydon Civic Association and local Joseph Schumacher VFW
Post No. 1597 are once again joining forces for a Memorial Day
parade on State Road. The parade will start at 12:30 p.m. Monday at
the intersection of State Road and Cedar Avenue and proceed north
to the VFW post off Bellevue Avenue.
Organizers said this year’s event will feature performances by
the Greater Kensington String Band, the Truman High School marching
band and other groups.
FALLS
American Legion Post No. 834 will present its Memorial Day
parade Sunday. The event begins at 1 p.m. at the east campus of
Pennsbury High School at 705 Hood Blvd. in Falls.
The parade procession will include local first responders and
area student groups. It will head east to New Falls Road and then
turn north. The parade ends with a ceremony at the legion hall at
300 Yardley Ave. in Historic Fallsington.
HULMEVILLE
The annual Penndel-Hulmeville Memorial Day parade will step off
at 9 a.m. Saturday on Ford Avenue in Hulmeville. The route runs
along Main Street to Bellevue Avenue and ends along Hulmeville
Avenue in Penndel.
Members of the Penndel Fire Company, which is celebrating its
100th anniversary, will be grand marshals of the parade.
Following the procession, the Hulmeville Historical Society will
hold its annual ceremony, featuring several speakers and a soloist
at 2 p.m. at Memorial Park, located at the intersection of Bellevue
and Neshaminy Street.
LANGHORNE
The Jesse Soby American Legion Post No. 148 of Langhorne’s
Memorial Day parade is set for Monday. Before the parade kicks off
at 9:30 a.m., memorial service will be held at 9 a.m. at the post,
located at 115 W. Richardson Ave.
During the parade, post members will collect personal care
items, snacks, video games, batteries and phone cards to send to
U.S. troops stationed in Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan, organizers
said.
The parade begins at the post, winds around the borough and ends
back at the post.
MIDDLETOWN
American Legion Post No. 960 at 1537 Woodbourne Road will have a
Memorial Day service at 8 a.m. Monday. A raising of flags, an honor
guard and brief remarks by officials will be the highlights. Coffee
and pastries will be available to those attending starting at 7
a.m. and up until the service starts.
MORRISVILLE
The Morrisville Memorial Day Parade, sponsored by the borough
and Morrisville Fire Co., will assemble at 8:30 a.m. Monday at the
Morrisville Presbyterian Church, 771 North Pennsylvania Ave.
The parade will include fire trucks from the Morrisville company
and other area companies, including Tullytown and Falls, local
veterans, Scouts and borough officials.
NEWTOWN/NEWTOWN TOWNSHIP
Morell Smith American Legion Post 440 in Newtown Township will
hold a service at 10:30 a.m. Sunday at the New Life Christian
Church on State Street. After the service, post members will head
to Lighthouse Hill Cemetery on Frost Lane, and hold a wreath laying
ceremony.
The post will conduct its annual Memorial Day Parade at 9 a.m.
Monday. The parade grand marshal is the post’s long-serving
Sergeant at Arms Joseph Swerk.
The parade will include the veterans of the Newtown American
Legion, the Council Rock North marching band and other community
groups. The parade will cover the communities of Newtown and
Newtown Township. The route has been shortened due to the aging of
post members.
The parade will begin at the Newtown Commons Newtown-Yardley
Road and head to the Newtown Cemetery, also on Newtown-Yardley
Road. There, marchers will follow tradition and have a gun salute
near Morell Smith’s grave, since the post bears his name.
From there, the parade will come out onto Elm Street and make a
right and then a left onto Washington Avenue, a left on Lincoln
Avenue and a right on Centre Avenue. The parade route will head to
Centre Avenue and Congress Street at the World War I Memorial in
front of the Newtown Library Company. There, a brief ceremony will
be held.
From the library, the parade will proceed on Congress Street to
Jefferson Street, where participants will make a left and another
left on State Street to borough hall. There, the
Guest speaker, post member and U.S. Army reservist Larry Shorr,
will take the microphone. The route continues on State Street and
make a right on Centre Avenue, crosses Sycamore Street and
continues on Richboro Road, then makes a right on Linden Avenue at
the post, where the parade will end in Newtown Township. A ceremony
then will be held at the post.
NORTHAMPTON
The Northampton Board of Supervisors will hold an 8 a.m.
ceremony Monday at the township building, 55 Township Road in
Richboro. It will include a flag-raising ceremony by the Marine
Corps League Patriot Detachment at the flag poles in front of the
building. Then at 9 a.m., a 45-minute to an hour service will be
held at Robert H. Dembowski Jr. Veterans Memorial Park at Routes
232 and 332 in Richboro. The family of Dembowski, an Army private
killed in the line of duty in Iraq in 2007, will lay a wreath in
honor of their son and other veterans.
Northampton veterans will then head to the Washington Crossing
National Cemetery in Upper Makefield for a 2 p.m. observance.
PENNDEL
See Hulmeville.
TULLYTOWN
Memorial services will begin at 9 a.m. Saturday at the veterans
monument at Fallsington Avenue and Main Street and continue at 9:30
a.m. at the Tullytown cemetery, also on Main Street.
A parade will start at noon at D S Boat Sales, 110 Main
St., to the borough municipal building at 500 Main St., where a
closing ceremony will take place.
The “Greaseband” will perform at 2 p.m. in the park behind the
municipal building.
UPPER MAKEFIELD
The official support committee of the Washington Crossing
National Cemetery in Upper Makefield is holding a Memorial Day
observance at 2 p.m. Monday.
The Guardians of the National Cemetery’s Memorial Day observance
will include remarks by Army Major General Wesley E. Craig Jr. and
Congressman Michael Fitzpatrick, R-8. Also a tribute will be held
for service members missing in action, along with a talk about
American Exceptionalism.
State Rep. Scott Petri, R-178, is hosting a Memorial Day
observance at Washington Crossing Historic Park from 11:30 a.m. to
1:15 p.m. Monday. The event will be held at the upper end of the
park, at Aquetong and River roads in Solebury.
The ceremony will feature a number of speakers, a wreath laying,
flag replacement at historic gravesites and a 21-gun salute by
Washington Crossing re-enactors.
Petri, Congressman Michael Fitzpatrick, R-8, Bucks County
Commissioner Rob Loughery and Wayne Lutz of the Warriors Watch
Riders are expected to attend.
UPPER SOUTHAMPTON
A memorial service at Veterans Field will begin at 9:30 a.m.
Monday. The William Tennent High School marching band will perform,
and Marine Corps League All Detachments will serve as honor guard
and color guard. The American Legion will attend, and there will
also be a guest speaker.
YARDLEY/Lower Makefield
Joint Memorial Day events for Lower Makefield and Yardley will
kick off at 7 a.m. Monday with a 21-gun salute at Slate Hill, Saint
Andrew, and Saint Ignatius cemeteries. Honoring ceremonies will
begin at 9 a.m. at the Afton and Delaware avenues monument across
from the Yardley Inn. The Rev. Douglass Hoglund of Woodside
Presbyterian Church will offer the opening prayer. American Legion
Knowles-Doyle Post No. 317 Commander William Tropia will
preside.
This year’s guest speaker will be U.S. Army Colonel Jonathan
Oline and the singer will be Marge Swider. The parade starts at 11
a.m., and concluding ceremonies begin at about 12:30 p.m. at the
Legion Post, 215 South Main St.
The events are sponsored by the Yardley VFW Post 6393 and the
American Legion post.
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