BATH

While it wasn’t the turnout brighter skies usually bring, people still lined up along Centre Street to see the annual Memorial Day Parade in Bath put on by the American Legion Smith- Tobey Post 21.

Sprinkles began to fall just before the parade started but soon faded away. When a Bath police cruiser appeared atop Centre Street, spectators let out a round of cheers. The officer was followed by parade grand marshal John Doyle, a Vietnam veteran and past commander at the state level of the American Legion.

Local veterans rode by, followed by Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts, and local school bands, members of the legion, tractors, Shriner cars and fire trucks.

The legion held observances in Bath City Park after the parade, which included a wreath laying ceremony for the country’s fallen heroes and prisoners of war. Slowly, the sky lightened during the event.

“Today is Memorial Day,” said Mari Eosco, Bath City Council chairwoman and the guest speaker at the observance.

“Many people view Memorial Day as the unofficial beginning of summer and it is the kickoff for picnics and barbecues and family gatherings,” she continued. “And these are all worthy, special events. But let us reflect first and foremost on the true significance of Memorial Day.”

It is one day of national awareness and reverence that commemorates U.S. military men and women who died defending our nation and its values, she said.

“We should stop and honor America’s fallen heroes on this day, not as a gesture endorsing any political ideology, but in honor of the brave men and women who gave their life for our country as a last full measure of devotion and for the supreme sacrifice they made for each of us,” Eosco said.

The men and women dedicated their lives to defending the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, she said.

“May we ever be filled with gratitude for their lives every time we see the American flag flying over public buildings, monuments, schools, homes, on the masts of military ships, emerging from the wreck caused by natural or man-made disaster, next to a headstone or with folds draping, the tombs of our distinguished dead,” she said. “The only way we can really honor their memory is to resolve to live and serve today and tomorrow the best we can and to make America the best that she can be.”