A MEMORIAL TO OUR VETS WHO DIDN'T COME BACK

I know it's been a few days since Memorial Day, but thought I'd show you these photos anyway.  These were taken on Monday with Joe's camera.  And no, I haven't found either of my cameras.  Yet.

Joe told me that they would be doing the memorial service between 2:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m.  So when I heard the noise across the street, I headed over.  Several other neighbors were there too.  I leaned against my car, walked up to the side fence, went to the rear fence, and hopefully got some good pictures.  At least I think they are good.

The police and firemen's pipes and drums came to be a part of it.

I loved the American flag and the MIA/POW flag against the sky.

All the names on the memorial were read and a bell sounded after each name.

Here is the memorial stone with all the names engraved on it.  So many lives lost in the Vietnam War.

The laying of the wreath.

They played "Amazing Grace" while the vets looked on.  Joe is the veteran on the right.

Then there was a gun salute.

And Joe standing alone at the end.

By the time he got home he was really tired.  He said his legs hurt from marching and his arms hurt from carrying a heavy rifle.  I told him he wasn't 20 and in the Marine Corps anymore.  But he is still glad he did it.  He won't have to march again until November for Veterans Day.

Kathy

MEMORIAL DAY PARADE

It's time to share our annual Memorial Day parade with you.  This year was different because Joe was part of the veterans' group.  They left their meeting house across the street from us at 7:00 this morning to go to a service at Father Judge High School.  The next time I saw him was in the parade.  Now he is with the group at another memorial service.  I think he is coming home after that.  I hope so anyway.

But on to the parade.  You know I always have great pictures to show you.  But...

My camera is missing again.  I had it at my sister's house on Saturday.  I got tons of great pictures of the cook out she had.  Joe says he remembers sticking it in my purse to bring it home and...  it's gone!  I have searched everywhere I can think of.  The living room, under the sofa, the kitchen, even the bedroom and bathroom although why it would be there I have no idea.  I tried all over the car in case it fell out.  No luck.  I've been praying for God to show me where it is.  I know it will turn up.  But I didn't have it to take pictures of the parade.  Joe graciously loaned me his.  Now, I don't really know how to work Joe's camera so a lot of the shots I wanted, I didn't get.  But here's what I did get.

 I was watching TV when I heard a lot of noise outside.  So I knew the parade was starting.  The first ones to ride by was a motorcycle group.  There must have been 50 or 60 of them.  I tried to get them all, but this is what I got.

Then some antique cars.  Quite a few of them.  Again, what you see is what I got.

And then there was a pause.  I long pause.  Almost 30 minutes.  I was tired of standing so I went and sat in my car where I could see when the parade started up again.

Finally I saw the Vietnam Veterans -- the group Joe is with -- show up.  I jumped out of the car and ran across the street.  I got some pictures, but unfortunately no good ones of Joe.  I tried.

They stopped in front of their headquarters.  The front of our house looks out on the back of their building.  Then they got ready to give a salute with their rifles.

Joe is second from the left.  He said he had a defective rifle that kept jamming.

This is the color guard that marched with them.

Next came the Aqua String Band.  It's like being at a warm New Year's Day parade when I see the mummers.

The Civil War re-enactors.  This is something I've always wanted to do, but never have.  Maybe someday.

They stopped in front of the veterans' headquarters and gave a gun salute.

Next were the Pipe and Drum Corps.

This group stopped in front of the memorial next to the building and gave a salute.

Here's the memorial they were saluting.

This truck is in the parade each year and I love it.

Here's the Cougars -- the local teams of the Boys and Girls Club.

And there's always dignitaries of course.  Here are a couple of our State Representatives.

The Girl Scouts.

World War I re-enactors.  They also saluted at the veterans' headquarters.

The American Legion.

Navy ROTC.

The Boy Scouts.

A drill team from New Jersey.

The Outboard Club.  I always like seeing the boats.

The Pipes and Drums from Montgomery County, PA.

The Polish American String Band.  More mummers!

The Desert Storm Santa.

I saw the ambulances coming and thought it was the end of the parade.  I was wrong.

The Joseph A. Ferko String Band.  Their headquarters is about 2 blocks from my house.

I finally got a string band captain doing the mummers strut.  It's unique to Philadelphia.  And South Jersey, I guess.  But we had it first.

The Celtic Flame dance school had the cutest little dancers.  They were good too.

Finally there was Hog Island New Year's Club.  They are a fancy division.  There are three types of mummers -- comic, fancy and string bands.  The comics and fancy don't make music, they just dress up and dance.

And then there was the police.  Now we knew it was the end.

But wait.  Do I see something else coming?  I do.  It is a truck spraying the street with water and two trucks with brooms cleaning the street.  We have not had street cleaners down our street in years.  I guess the new City Representative wanted to make points with us.  But the drivers looked very unhappy.  Like they would rather have been home with their families having a barbecue.  I have never seen street cleaners following a parade.  How funny!  We were all laughing.

After the parade Joe came and got me and we had lunch over at the veterans place.  There were hoagies, potato and macaroni salad, veggies, chips, cookies and cupcakes.  Then he went on to another memorial service in Fishtown and I went home.

This is really long so I will stop here.  Tomorrow I will show you the memorial service that Joe was a part of.

And please pray that I find my camera.  It can't just disappear although my new camera did.  And this one did for two months.  Aughh!!!

Kathy