2014 Memorial Day Parade speech
Memorial Day Parade 2014
Memorial Day is the day we set aside each year to honor those brave men and women in the military who gave the ultimate sacrifice and died as the result of warfare.
Our parade today is dedicated to those brave men and women that have fought and died in defense of our country in all the wars ranging from the Revolutionary War up to present day Afghanistan.
Hartford is very proud that we have the last remaining Civil War Enlistment Center in all of NYS. Across the street from the Enlistment Center is a Civil War monument in the Old Hartford Cemetery. This monument is in memory of the 17 Hartford men that gave their lives fighting in the Civil War.
For many generations, Hartford has honored these 17 men by marking this monument with 17 American flags.
But this year is different. This year Mike Armstrong, who is Hartford’s Historian, discovered that there are 6 additional men that died in the war, this year the Civil War monument has 23 flags placed around it.
This means that we are some 150 years late in rightfully honoring these 6 men. Because today is the day we set aside each year to remember our war dead, I would like to take this opportunity to finally remember them with a bell ringing tribute.
George Minor – Company H of the 22nd NY Infantry
George was 19 years old when he died on August 30th, 1862
John Miner – Company H of the 22nd NY Infantry
John died on July 18th, 1863
Albert King – Company I of the 123rd NY Infantry
Albert was 33 years old when he died on Sept 13th, 1864
John Burton – Company G, 16th NY Heavy Artillery
John was 31 years old when he died on Dec 8th, 1864
William Brown – Company K, 186th NY Infantry
William was 20 years old when he died on April 22nd, 1865
Albert Higley – Company G, 16th NY Heavy Artillery
Albert was 25 years old when he died on March 31, 1865
May they rest in peace.