Memorial Day in Connecticut

remember the fallen

I attended the Memorial Day parade in Old Lyme, CT, today, Monday, and I gotta say that my favorite parade participant was the Precision Marching Ukulele Band.

This is what made America great.

After the parade we all went to the town cemetery and Memorial Day presentations by local worthies. There were three presentations of award-winning essays from kids, of which there were two that mentioned our veterans assisting “oppressed peoples” and one that did not.

After the recitation of the names of deceased veterans and the playing of various national anthems by the high school band, we heard a speech from a Griswold, one of the great old families of Connecticut.

This Griswold mentioned the need to tolerate other opinions and invited us to deplore rioting, arson, political violence and Capitol Hill protesters all. Imagine that! Only a Griswold would have the chops to say something like that. His speech was interrupted by enthusiastic applause, the only speech thus interrupted.

The speeches lauded the sacrifices of America’s veterans down the decades, but also were pretty clear in that all of America’s wars were for the good. I guess that some of us, while always honoring the service of all American servicemen and women, would like a few tweaks on the America-is-always-right front.

And honestly, I would appreciate a little respect for the soldiers of the South. For me, the 600,000 that died in the Civil War were all Americans.

But one of the great things about parades on national holidays is that you get to see marching by you the parade of civic organizations that are the bedrock of America, and indeed human society, from the high-school band to the police and fire departments — not forgetting several vitally important antique fire trucks — and the Ukulele Marching Band.