Memorial Day ceremonies, parades across Berks uphold 157-year tradition
Nowadays, fewer than a few dozen people, including participants, typically attend these Memorial Day services, some of which were held in cemeteries following parades.
But to those who uphold the 157-year-old tradition, it's would be worth doing even if no one showed up.
'It's extremely important,' said John Magala, commander of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 6150, Sinking Spring. 'It's not only just personal as somebody who's generationally a military guy, from great grandfathers all the way through, but it's also a way for us to keep remembering our brothers and sisters before us.'
From the podium shrouded in a mourning drape in front of the VFW post along Columbia Avenue during Monday morning's ceremony, Magala read the entirety of the 1868 order by Gen. John A. Logan, delivered not long after the Civil War ended, that established May 30 as Decoration Day.
The Sinking Spring VFW Post 6150 honor guard fires a salute during Memorial Day services on Monday, May 26, 2025. (BILL UHRICH/READING EAGLE)
Now called Memorial Day, it was designated 'for the purpose of strewing with flowers or otherwise decorating the graves of comrades who died in defense of their country, whose bodies lie in every city, village, and hamlet churchyard in the land.'
During the ceremony, with the honor guard at attention, individual VFW officers and the president of the auxiliary were called to place a symbol of remembrance—a wreath, a carnation and a flag—on the memorial to their fallen.
It was the second Memorial Day service of the morning for the Sinking Spring VFW and its auxiliary. Earlier in the morning, a ceremony was held in Pleasant View Cemetery's Veterans Grove, just down the road in Spring Township.
Post 6150 members also paid their respects to the war dead heading into the Memorial Day weekend by placing about 2,500 small American flags on grave markers of war veterans in church cemeteries in and around Sinking Spring.
The Gov. Mifflin High School band marches down the first block of West Broad Street during the Shillington Memorial Dy Parade on Monday, May 26, 2025. (BILL UHRICH/READING EAGLE)
In Fleetwood, the honor guard for American Legion Post 625 held a brief memorial service in Fleetwood Cemetery immediately after a short parade sponsored by the post.
The legion's color guard led the parade followed by Cub Scout Pack 103, Fleetwood, the Fleetwood High School marching band, with military vehicles and about a half-dozen Fleetwood Fire Company vehicles in the rear.
COURTESY OF SAMANTHA GREISS
Kimmy Huber of Fleetwood found a spot in front of Fleetwood Bank, Main and Franklin streets, to watch the annual Memorial Day Parade sponsored by Amerian Legion Post 625 with her niece Samantha Greiss' children, from left: Jackson, 3, Savannah, 6, and Jameson, 4.(COURTESY OF SAMANTHA GREISS)
Kimmy Huber, her niece and her grandniece and grandnephews were among a smattering of people who watched the procession on Main Street as the procession made its way to Fleetwood Community Park from the American Legion post.
Huber said the turnout for the parade isn't what it used to be.
'We used to come here and sit with people we knew,' she said.
They had the southwest corner of Main and Franklin streets—in front of Fleetwood Bank—more or less to themselves, although more people gathered in the park where speakers would give remarks followed by a concert by the high school band.
The military, she said, is near and dear to her heart, with several members of her extended family having served or currently serving. Although no one died while serving, but she lost a son, Zach, to cancer five years ago while his twin brother, Michael, was serving in the Marine Corps.
The parade in Shillington lasted a little longer. American Legion Reber-Moore Post 635 sponsored the parade that formed in Shillington Park and ended at Shillington Town Hall.
Adam Staron of Grill unfurls a flag honoring Memorial Day with his cousin Chelsea Micel of Kenorst prior to the Shillington Memorial Day Parade on Monday, May 26, 2025. (BILL UHRICH/READING EAGLE)
The parade featured the combined middle- and high school bands and colorguard of Governor Mifflin School District. A couple of brass ensembles, one called Avenue Brass and and another called Bravura Brass, played aboard small flatbed trailers.
A couple of dozen convertibles driven by members of Skyline Corvette Club added to the mix of fire and police vehicles.
Chelsea Miceli of Kenhorst was among a group of friends riding the back of a New Castle Lawn & Landscape pickup truck.
For them, it was a way of spending part of the holiday in gorgeous weather.
But a flag showing the silhouette of a kneeling soldier reminded of a deeper meaning and purpose. It read, 'All Gave. Some Gave All.'
Miceli said her grandfather was a POW.
'This is a good way to honor him and those who fought next to him,' she said.
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A Vietnam veteran salutes as the Gov. Joseph Hiester chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution presents the colors at the Memorial Day Service in Veterans Grove at Reading City Park on Monday, May 26, 2025. For story and more photos, see page A5. (BILL UHRICH/READING EAGLE)
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on Monday, May 26, 2025. (BILL UHRICH/READING EAGLE)
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The Gov. Joseph Hiester chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution present the colors at the Memorial Day Service in Veterans Grove at Reading City Park on Monday, May 26, 2025. (BILL UHRICH/READING EAGLE)
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Mark Pflum of Gibraltar, portraying Reading Civil War Capt.George Durell, prays during the opening invocation at the Memorial Day Service in Veterans Grove at Reading City Park on Monday, May 26, 2025. (BILL UHRICH/READING EAGLE)
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Spectators line the first block of West Broad Street for the Shillington Memorial Day Parade on Monday, May 26, 2025. (BILL UHRICH/READING EAGLE)
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The Gov. Mifflin High School band marches down the first block of West Broad Street during the Shillington Memorial Dy Parade on Monday, May 26, 2025. (BILL UHRICH/READING EAGLE)
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The Hamilton Celtic Pipes and Drums march down the first block of West Broad Street during the Shillington Memorial Day Parade on Monday, May 26, 2025. (BILL UHRICH/READING EAGLE)
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Navy veteran Virt Hilliker of Shillington stands with his 1977 Corvette before driving it in the Shillington Memorial Day Parade on Monday, May 26, 2025. Hilliker served as an electrician on the aircraft carrier USS Independence during the Cuban Missile Crisis and was part of the blockade in 1962. (BILL UHRICH/READING EAGLE)
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Adam Staron of Grill unfurls a flag honoring Memorial Day with his cousin Chelsea Micel of Kenorst prior to the Shillington Memorial Day Parade on Monday, May 26, 2025. (BILL UHRICH/READING EAGLE)
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The Gov. Mifflin High School band marches down the first block of West Broad Street during the Shillington Memorial Dy Parade on Monday, May 26, 2025. (BILL UHRICH/READING EAGLE)
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Dave Lorah, senior vice president of VFW Post 6150, Sinking Spring, salutes after placing a wreath at the veterans' memorial during Memorial Day services on Monday, May 26, 2025. (BILL UHRICH/READING EAGLE)
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The Sinking Spring VFW Post 6150 honor guard fires a salute during Memorial Day services on Monday, May 26, 2025. (BILL UHRICH/READING EAGLE)
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A Vietnam veteran salutes as the Gov. Joseph Hiester chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution presents the colors at the Memorial Day Service in Veterans Grove at Reading City Park on Monday, May 26, 2025. For story and more photos, see page A5. (BILL UHRICH/READING EAGLE)
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