A LOOK BACK:Memorial Day 1922: Parade honors WWI veterans

A cold granite stone sits somewhere here in America, its face worn and forgotten.

On its weathered face one can barely make out the letters of his name.

Pvt. Somebody, age 19, died in service to his country.

This stone is a reminder that long ago this boy grew up, his voice echoing in some town or city, possibly even here in Huntington Beach, his toes may have even dug into our sand while he lay on an old blanket flirting and making plans for the future with a young lady he grew up with.

But for now he and his comrades are forgotten in time except on one special day at the end of May.

This is Memorial Day and it came about just after the civil war as a way to remember and honor those who fought in that war.

This week and the next we will look back at how Huntington Beach observed this reverent and impressive day.

In 1922 Memorial Day — then designated as May 30 — would be celebrated on a Tuesday, but locally a Christian church started its observation on Sunday, May 28.

The church invited all our citizens to hear an early Memorial Day message from Rev. A.W. Cummings.

On Tuesday people from all over gathered in Huntington Beach, some lining the sidewalks of Main Street while others gathered at Sixth and Main streets to join the Memorial Day parade.

The parade began at 9:30 a.m. It would end at the pier where a shower of roses would be sprinkled.

Grand Army of the Republic members, veterans of the civil war, led the parade.

Carrying the flag of their nation, their legs stiffened with age, but with a youthful spirit, they marched along Main Street to the crowd’s cheers.

Veterans John Hearn and E.C. Seymour rode in a car along the parade route that was driven by W.S. Tubach.

Behind this automobile marched a 16-piece band followed by members of the Women’s Auxiliary, the Women’s Relief Corps, the Daughters of Veterans and the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Behind the ladies came the veterans who served in the Spanish American War.

Members of the newly formed Huntington Beach American Legion Post also joined the parade.

These proud veterans of the Joseph Rodman Post served their country in World War I.

It was now time for members of our Huntington Beach Chamber of Commerce to march, followed by our local Boy Scout Troop No. 1. Then came our grammar school students led by Hortense Reith. The children in the parade carried the roses.

Sitting straight and tall in the saddle astride a beautiful sorrel steed rode Thomas Talbert, who served as grand marshal. Talbert, clad in white, wore a straw hat decorated with red, white and blue ribbon.

When the marchers arrived at the pier they formed a circle with the band in the center. While the public stood at attention the band played the national anthem.

Rev. Luther A. Arthur gave a five-minute sermon recounting the heroism of those who gave their lives for the country and exhorting the young to revere their veterans and their flag. Something all good Americans should do today.

Then the band struck up “America,” followed by a benediction from Rev. Cummings.

The children then stepped forward with the roses and spread them on the water.

Some of the veterans were then driven to the Huntington Beach Cemetery (now known as Good Shepard Cemetery) where Capt. F. P. Candee of the Grand Army of the Republic organization called on Chaplain Luther Arthur to invoke the “Divine Blessing.”

Adjutant E.C. Seymour read the order promoting the national May 30 holiday that was issued in 1868 by John A. Logan, the commander in chief of the Grand Army of the Republic, which then represented Union veterans. Then a poem by Theodore Metz was read.

As the ceremony grew to a close many of the veterans visited the graves of their fallen comrades to decorate those graves with flowers.

When the parade on the pier ended about 25 members of the Rodman post drove over to Fairhaven Cemetery in Santa Ana to decorate the grave of the only member of their post who was buried there.

The members placed a flowered wreath on the grave of Jack French, the son of former city marshal Eugene French, while each member stepped forward and laid their boutonniere beside it.

A few fitting words were offered by Commander A.C. MacDonald, and as the members formed a line, bugler Frank Reeves played “Taps.”

As the last notes of the trumpet sounded the veterans turned away from the grave with lumps in their throats.

I hope everyone feels similarly moved as they mark Memorial Day this year. I hope they will recall all those brave people who gave their lives for our country and that no veteran’s grave will be forgotten and covered with weeds.