People lined the sidewalks, flags waved, and there was applause as veterans, escorted in cars, passed by in the Biddeford and Saco Memorial Day Parade. 

It was the first time since 2019 that the veterans, school bands, BoyScouts and Cubs, mayors, police, and firefighters and others made their way from one city to another, and then paused for a ceremony at the end — the coronavirus pandemic halted the parades in 2020 and 2021. 

The parade began in Saco and ended at Veterans’ Park in Biddeford. 

“It is a day to remember the men and women who sacrificed and died for our country,” said Biddeford City Councilor Martin Grohman, who emceed the closing ceremony. 

David Strassler, of Congregation Etz Chaim, gave a prayer, and spoke of those who died serving the country. “They live on in the history of this nation and in our hearts,” he said. 

Member of Boy Scout Troop 310 raised the flag. 

Biddeford Historical Society President Dana Peck told the assembled that Memorial Day was created following the Civil War. Called Decoration Day then, it was a time for families to place flowers on the graves of the war dead.  

He noted there are Revolutionary War soldiers buried in the area, in family cemeteries along the Pool Road. 

“They stood up and stood tall,” he said — farmers, fishermen and others who took up arms to fight for independence. 

He spoke of Merton Ira Staples, for whom Post 1 — the first AMVETS post in Maine — is named. Staples fell on Dec. 7, 1941, in the bombing that sparked America’s entry into World War II. His mother received the telegram the following day.  

Biddeford resident Ashley Potvin placed the memorial wreath. 

Students from Saco’s K-2 music program, led by Sarah Hashem, waved flags, and sang “America the Beautiful,” their voices ringing out sweetly in the sunshine. 

Conrad Letellier, president of Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 1044, sounded “Taps.”