CHESTERTOWN — We have an obligation to remember. Otherwise, they died in vain.
Aubrey Sarvis delivered that powerful message in his Memorial Day address here on Monday, May 26.
Speaking from a makeshift dais in Monument Park, Sarvis cited the grim reality of what the ongoing battle for freedom has cost the United States in terms of lives lost, injured and missing — from conflicts in faraway places like the Western Front in France and Belgium, Poland, Germany, North Africa, the Philippines, Korea, Southeast Asia, Iraq and Afghanistan.
“Most of the killed in action we remember today were young, 18, 19 and 20. A few were 17. Notwithstanding their courage and medals, I’m pretty sure of two things I can tell you about them. They were all afraid, and they did not want to die,” Sarvis said to an attentive audience that gathered in the 200-block of High Street following a parade that had stepped off at 10 a.m.
He also saluted Gold Star Families whose parents, siblings, spouses, sons or daughters were killed in training accidents that could have been prevented.
Only 17 when he joined the Army, Sarvis (32nd Infantry, 7th Division) recounted how as still a teenager he had pulled guard duty along the Demilitarized Zone near the 38th parallel in Korea during 1961-62.
The war had ended nearly a decade earlier, with an armistice, not a peace treaty, and the U.S.-led United Nations Command was responsible for maintaining the armistice and patrolling the southern boundary of the DMZ to deter aggression from North Korea.
Sarvis’ speech included personal anecdotes of family members who served in the Army, Navy and Air Force during World War II, Korea and Vietnam, including three uncles who served in Korea.
He recited “In Flanders Fields,” a poem written during World War I in 1915 that speaks of the sacrifice of soldiers and urges the living to carry on the fight and honor their memory; and “Ode for Memorial Day,” a poem penned by Col. Charles Young in 1907 that emphasizes themes of patriotism, honor and the enduring legacy of those who fought and died for their country.
Sumner Hall board of directors President Vanessa Isaacs Ringgold served as emcee for the May 26 program and gave a brief history of Memorial Day.
Originally called Decoration Day, from the early tradition of decorating graves with flowers, wreaths and flags, Memorial Day is a day for remembrance of U.S. military personnel who died while serving their country.
It was formalized by a “Memorial Day Order” issued by Grand Army of the Republic Commander-in-Chief John A. Logan in May 1868 to commemorate the sacrifices of Union and Confederate soldiers who died during the Civil War.
“We’re very proud to be here to uphold that order,” Ringgold said.
After World War I, Memorial Day became an occasion for honoring those who died in all of America’s wars.
By an act of Congress in 1971, Memorial Day became a national holiday to be observed on the last Monday in May.
It’s a day for solemn remembrance, not celebration.
Sumner Hall in Chestertown, the Grand Army of the Republic post chartered in 1882 by local Black veterans, joined the Memorial Day program as a partner in 2024.
Union veterans formed the GAR as a national social and fraternal organization on April 6, 1866, about a year after Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered his Confederate troops to Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House in Virginia, effectively ending the Civil War.
Charles Sumner Post #25 — named for the U.S. senator from Massachusetts who was a fierce advocate of emancipation and voting rights for African Americans — was one of 56 Maryland GAR posts, of which 22 were African American.
Post #25 was established in 1882 by about 20 Civil War veterans who had served in the U.S. Colored Troops.
Today, Post #25 located at 206 South Queen St. is one of only two GAR posts still standing in the United States, and the only one still open to the public.
Ringgold said she grew up in the Black neighborhood known as “Boardwalk,” a section of Railroad Avenue that is now South Queen Street, “not knowing the significance of what we have here.”
Beginning in 1883 and for several decades, one of the most visible activities of the Sumner Hall post occurred on what we now know as Memorial Day.
A parade would form in Chestertown, led by veterans and followed by a train of musicians, decorated wagons, friends and school children. The parade would travel to Janes Church Cemetery just outside of town, where the graves of Black soldiers killed in the Civil War were strewn with flowers, and to Chester Cemetery in town, where the graves of white soldiers were similarly decorated.
Kent County’s Parker White American Legion Post #143, led for many years by Commander Calvin Frazier, continued the Memorial Day ceremony well into the 20th century.
The observance of Memorial Day 2025 in Chestertown began at 9 a.m. with a performance by the Ukulele Club followed by River Voices, the Chester River Chorale’s community outreach ensemble.
RiverArts distributed “thank you cards” that were to be sent to veterans and sold tissue paper poppies.
A patriotic-themed parade that included veterans, youth groups, antique vehicles, first responders and musicians stepped off at 10 a.m. from the upper reaches of High Street. Leading the way was a color guard from Rock Hall’s Sgt. Preston Ashley American Legion Post #228.
In addition to Ringgold’s welcome and Sarvis’ keynote address, highlights included vocalist Betsy Beals’ a cappella rendition of the national anthem; a salute to veterans in the audience and Kent County soldiers, sailors and marines who were killed in action from the Korean War on through the War on Terrorism; and a moment of silence as trumpeter Brad Holloman played “Taps.”
For the second year in a row, Katy Mulligan Weddell headed up the Memorial Day Committee.
“Spectacular” was her response when asked about the program and community turnout estimated at several hundred people.
“It just shows you that if you build it, they will come,” Weddell told The Evening Enterprise in an interview immediately after the ceremony.
Weddell’s aim for the holiday is a return to what she characterized as “the true meaning of Memorial Day.”
The daughter of a longtime and dedicated member of Chestertown’s Frank M. Jarman American Legion Post #36, Weddell recalled as a youth marching in the parade as a member of a “little baton club” and selling poppies.
“Memorial Day was all about the parade and poppies,” she said.
