Stan, Yup, that's a small town parade. The VFW, the Highschool marching band, the scouts, then anybody else who might help draw a crowd. I'd forgive them for changing the spirit of it all in the name of drawing a crowd. Regards, Bob S.
On Tue, May 31, 2011 at 9:38 PM, Stan Halpin <s...@stans-photography.info> wrote: > A quick gallery from yesterday's Memorial Day parade here in my new home > town. It took just short of an hour for it all to pass by - the gallery is to > give a flavor of the event. > > I found the whole experience a bit off-putting. Memorial Day grew out of > somewhat organized moves by the Grand Army of the Republic (i.e., the Union > Army) to recognize the dead from the failed Southern insurrection. The South > would have none of it, but organized their own separate recognition for dead > Confederate soldiers. Eventually pretty much everybody agreed that a national > holiday for the purpose of remembering and commemorating the dead from all of > the country's wars would be appropriate. My family tradition was to go on > Memorial Day to put flags and flowers on the graves of family members who had > died in military service, which is the original way the holiday was > celebrated. Somehow when I wasn't looking the whole thing has morphed out of > all recognition, with concerts on the National Mall and politicians mouthing > platitudes about those who serve and parades with people in funny hats and > collectable old cars. What was originally Armistice Day (end of WWI) and > morphed into Veterans Day in this country is a time for honoring all those > who serve; isn't that enough? Do we have to intrude on this day of > remembrance for those who died? > > Philosophical mutterings aside, the parade was a decent representation of > hundreds of small-town parades put on for a variety of reasons (or for no > reason at all) throughout the country throughout the year. I hope this > gallery gives a bit of the flavor of the event . . . > > http://photos.stanhalpin.com/p463991366 > > stan > > > -- > PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List > PDML@pdml.net > http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net > to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow > the directions. > -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.