CCB MEDIA PHOTOS
A wreath is placed during Memorial Day ceremonies in Centerville Monday.
CENTERVILLE – Towns across Cape Cod honored the fallen men and women of the Armed Forces with Memorial Day activities Monday that included parades, speeches and solemn ceremonies.
The annual Centerville parade proceeded down Main Street, ending with a speaking program that featured 2nd Lt. Anamaria D. Gaitan, assigned to the 6th Space Warning Squadron, Cape Cod Air Force Station.
Along the parade route, Vietnam veteran Mike Good said it was important to remember those who lost their lives in battle.
“What Memorial Day means to me is honoring those in all wars that have gone before us. A lot of them didn’t come home,” said Good, who served as a U.S. Army helicopter gunship pilot in Vietnam from 1969 to 1970.
“If you’re able and willing, it’s good to get out [to remember veterans] so people don’t forget,” he said.
A parade in Dennis and a Field of Honor Flag display at Patriots Square on Route 134 helped mark the solemn holiday.
In Chatham, a march passed by five memorial sites, including the newly dedicated World War II monument at Nickerson Park.
At the John F. Kennedy Memorial in Hyannis, local cub scouts and the Barnstable Police Department Honor Guard were part of the ceremony. Barnstable High School student Dylan Campbell, who is graduating this year, was awarded a $2,500 scholarship from the JFK Memorial Trust Fund.
For many veterans, the passing of decades since they were in combat doesn’t mean they forget what it meant to serve.
“When you start thinking about it, it brings tears to your eyes because of all the ones that didn’t make it. I was fortunate. I had a big German shepherd protecting me over there and without him I probably wouldn’t be here,” said Korean War veteran Bob O’Gara of Hyannis.
A gun salute along the Centerville parade route during Memorial Day ceremonies
“I had no problem until you retire. When you retire, that’s when all your memories from over there come forth,” O’Gara said, who believes all young men should spend at least some time in the military.
World War II veteran Louis Demarkles of Hyannis was on hand at the JFK Memorial ceremony and remembered his days serving under legendary General George S. Patton.
“It was a ride that you can’t describe in words what it was like. Every day was a new experience,” said the 92-year-old veteran. Demarkles was a radio officer who provided communication between Patton and the armored divisions during the Battle of the Bulge.
“I lost a lot of buddies. We went across Europe,” Demarkles said.
Cape Cod Cares for the Troops hosted their 10th Annual Troops in the Spotlight at the Kmart Plaza in Hyannis. The 24-hour event focused on honoring veterans, wounded warriors and Gold and Blue Star families.
Items for care packages and monetary donations to cover the cost of shipping were collected. The goal was to fill an 18-foot-long truck with supplies and raise $18,000.
The first Memorial Day can be traced to three years after the Civil War ended, on May 5, 1868. According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, that’s when the head of an organization of Union veterans — the Grand Army of the Republic — established Decoration Day as a time for the nation to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers.
Flags of Honor display in Dennis
It is believed that date was chosen because flowers would be in bloom all over the country. The first large observance was held that year at Arlington National Cemetery.
Congress and President Lyndon Johnson declared Waterloo, N.Y. as the “birthplace” of Memorial Day in 1966.
A ceremony there on May 5, 1866, honored local veterans who had fought in the Civil War. Businesses closed and residents flew flags at half-staff.
Ninth District Congressman William Keating, who took part in Memorial Day services in Centerville and Hyannis, has recently returned from Iraq where he visited with U.S. troops to assess the evolving situation.
“At the end of the trip we went to Normandy…I saw the enormous sacrifice in Normandy. I could visualize what was happening and I was struck by the fact that what we have, what we take for granted, was at a cost. And the cost was the families and the individuals who lost lives who we remember today,” he said after the ceremony in Hyannis.
Sandwich remembered Memorial Day 2015 with a parade and wreath laying at several memorials, while Falmouth’s activities included a walk from the Village Green to Memorial Lane.
Other events and memorials were held in Eastham, Wellfleet, Harwich, Orleans, Mashpee, Provincetown, Yarmouth and Brewster.
(Material from www.va.gov was used in this report.)
