Sorry I forgot to post it:
"Beverly cancels veterans parade" by Kathleen Burge | Globe Staff, May 26, 2013
For years, the number of veterans who want to — and can — march through Beverly’s downtown in the annual Memorial Day parade has been dwindling. First, organizers shrank the parade route to make it more tolerable for older veterans.
But still, few marchers and spectators turned out. So this year, officials canceled the downtown parade.
Instead, the city will pay tribute to those who have died in military service in a ceremony Sunday at Odell Park. Jerry Guilebbe, the city’s veterans’ agent, is hoping this year’s commemoration at 1:30 p.m. will reinvigorate the annual tribute....
For Guilebbe, the Memorial Day parade is not essential to honoring those who died in military service. Placing flags on each of the 3,000 veterans graves in the city is more central to the holiday, he said. But that, too, has required some changes.
Since there are no longer enough veterans taking on the colossal task, Guilebbe has brought in other volunteers: Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, schools, citizens.
“That’s how this gets done,” he said. “It takes hundreds of hours.”
He hopes the service at Odell Park, whose speakers include a local World War II veteran and US Representative John Tierney, attracts more people than the parade did.
The town will still hold its other parade Sunday, but some of Beverly’s veterans are disappointed that the downtown parade has been canceled....
Robert Gilbert, commander of Beverly Vietnam Veterans, was resigned to the parade’s cancellation....
At another Beverly parade earlier this month, for American Idol contestant Angie Miller, who had returned to her hometown, the route was packed, Gilbert said....
What more need be said about Boston Strong, Massachushitts, or AmeriKa, hmmmm?
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Related: A Peaceful Memorial Day
Mine was.
Also see: Slow Saturday Special: For Whom the Bell Tolls
Not for me.
