MEMORIAL DAY PARADE

Hello, friends!  Welcome to another post (and the last one) of this year's Memorial Day.  Today I will tell you about the holiday itself.

It began with me taking Joe at 6:30 a.m. to Father Judge High School where he joined with other people from his Veterans group to do honor to the memorial site the school has there.  I took a picture of him before he left the house.

Someone from his group brought him back to their building so I didn't have to go back and get him.  I didn't get to see him, though because he had to get ready to march in the parade.

It was a very hot day.  I met up with my neighbor, Rose, and we sat together in the hot sun drinking lots of cold water and talking up a storm.  We both got lots of sun and my arms are a nice tan color now.

The parade started off with about 30 motorcyclists.  The noise of those cycles was so loud!

Then there were the antique cars.  They went by so fast it was hard to get a good picture of them.

After that there was a long pause of about 15 minutes.  We were all wondering what happened.  I ended up taking pictures of the crowds.  There were a lot more people than usual lining the street.

Suddenly we heard a siren and a police car with flashing lights was coming down the street.

And the parade was back on.

This was the Ferko String Band -- well, part of it.  Instead of marching, they were riding this year.  I don't blame them.

Immediately after Ferko was the Philadelphia Vietnam Veterans Memorial Society -- the group that Joe is in.

Do you see him?  He's the one on the left of this picture.

They stopped in front of their building and gave a salute to the memorial for those who never returned alive.

Next there was another veterans group.

And then the Police and Firemen's Pipe and Drum Corps.

They too stopped in front of the memorial and played "God Bless America."

What's a parade without the Girl Scouts?

This guy in the rear with the flag had on a U.S. Marine Corps t-shirt.  He stopped at the memorial and saluted.  He looked young enough to be in the Corps now.

This was a high school band but I didn't see where they were from.

 The Boy Scouts.

And the Cougars, our local sports team for kids.

More Boy Scouts.

A drill team.

And some dignitaries.

Go Navy!

The group from Cinnaminson, NJ who comes every year.

More military.

The Polish American String Band.  You will see several people in the next few videos doing the Mummers Strut.  Nothing like it anywhere else.

Irish Thunder.  Another pipe and drum corps.

This float was sponsored by a spa in Port Richmond (the next neighborhood south of us -- where I used to work in the library).  These ladies were spinning their way through the entire parade.  They never stopped even when their float stopped.

The Aqua String Band.

And the Mummers' Strut.

An old bus circa 1950-60.  I remember riding on buses like this one.

The Polish American String Band.

Another old car.

The Ancient Order of Hibernians.  An Irish group.  My neighborhood is mostly Polish followed by Irish.

Another high school group that I didn't get where they came from.

Civil War re-enactors.  I'll bet they were hot because their uniforms were made of wool.

More Mummers -- riding not strutting this time.

The Hog Island New Year's Association.  More Mummers, but the Comic Division this time.  It's the first year they were in the parade that I remember.

Now this guy at the end can strut!  And in full costume yet.

The Outboard Motor Club.

And just like that the fire trucks came down the street and we knew the parade had finished.

Joe and his group had already headed off to Fishtown to do another memorial service.  But I had to get a picture of this that was right outside of their building.

The gate was open so I was able to go inside of the Memorial Area and get a picture of the memorial.  The black stones each side are engraved with the names of all those from our neighborhood who did not come back from Vietnam.

After the service at Fishtown, they came back for a service here.

All the names on the memorial stone were read and another wreath was laid.

Joe finally was able to get home around 4:00 p.m.  It was a long day for him and he was tired.  I told him he was no longer 20 years old and in the Marine Corps and he agreed!

I made hamburgers for dinner.  Not as good as on a grill, but still good.

Memorial Day may be over for another year, but we should remember these brave men and women every day.

I'll be back tomorrow with another post and I might even be catching up.

Kathy