Pottstown crowd turns out to honor the fallen on Memorial Day

POTTSTOWN — A 127-year-old tradition begun during the Civil War was revived in Pottstown Monday as the Memorial Day Parade and services on Veterans’ Island resumed after a COVID-driven absence.

Fire trucks, military vehicles, Boy Scout and Cub Scout troops, the Rotary Club, the Masons Lodge, and of course the Pottstown High School and Middle School bands were all part of the 40-minute parade down High Street.

“For those who never left the battlefield, we have a duty today to honor them,” said Keith A. Seiwell, a retired U.S. Marine Corps colonel who was the guest speaker at Monday’s services and is CEO and Founder of the Gen. Carl Spaatz National U.S. Army Air forces Museum in Boyertown.

“The price of victory is never cheap,” said Seiwell who reminded the crowd that training for war can sometimes be as deadly as war itself. “Honoring those who died training for war is just as important,” he said.

The parade and services are presented by the Joint Veterans Council, said Michael Murphy, the officer of the day. That includes American Legion Post 244, Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 780, Vietnam Veterans of America Post 565, Marine Corps League Post 450, the Disabled American Veterans Post 25, and Women Marines Association PA 2.

The Veteran of the Year is James Fitch who, in a brief speech, said “I don’t know why I’m here. I came home. Today is the day we remember all of those who didn’t come home.”

“Ultimately, America is an idea,” said state Rep. Paul Friel, D-26th Dist. “And to the people who died to protect that idea, we owe a debt we can never repay. But we can honor that debt by protecting the democracy they died for.”

State Rep. Joe Ciresi praised the beauty of Veterans’ Island in Pottstown’s Memorial Park complex and urged residents to visit regularly “and remember those who have given everything.”

As the ceremony wound to a close, more than 100 names of Pottstown’s war dead were read one by one, each followed by a single toll of the bell brought there for that purpose.

That was followed by the traditional 21-gun salute performed by an honor guard of veterans.