Memorial Day serves as a powerful reminder of the courage and selflessness of the nation’s heroes, and the importance of never forgetting their sacrifice. On Memorial Day, May 27 the community is invited to a ceremony beginning at 11 a.m. at Veterans Bridge in Rushville to honor the men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice to defend freedom.

After the brief ceremony, the procession will go to East Hill Cemetery to honor the war dead at the new Veterans section. Along the way there will be a pause at the courthouse and at the old Veterans section at East Hill.

Memorial Day by Frederick W. Emerson

Our Nation is reverently thinking today

Of the loved ones sleeping beneath the cold clay;

Of the sacrifice made, and the brave deeds done,

To preserve our Union as a glorious one.

We ne’er will be able to pay the great cost

Of the noble, the true, and the brave that we’ve lost;

But over their graves, with tears like the dew,

We’ll lay our sweet flowers of red, white and blue.

Our Nation is paying its tribute today

Upon the green mounds where its loyal men lay;

While statesman, and orator, fondly repeat

The story of those who knew no defeat.

They tell of the Union united again,

By the triumph of those who died not in vain;

Of the forty-four states all loyal and free,

Of the peace, and the freedom, from sea to sea.

Our Nation is thinking, rejoicing, to day,

While comrades are kneeling their tribute to pay;

And hearts once sorrowing, rejoice now to see

The “Star Spangled Banner,” the flag of the free.

For out of their loyalty and brave deeds done,

Out of their battles and their victories won,

Came freedom and peace, and in liberty’s name

Our banner floats freely, with glory and fame.

Our Nation is reverently thinking today

Of the men now living who’ll soon pass away;

Like the grass of the field and the flowers they spread

O’er the graves of their comrades, immortal, dead,

Tall monuments stand to their memory dear,

But they crumble and fall, like the leaf when sere;

Our Nation united, forever will stand,

To those who preserved it, a monument grand.

Wherever we gather today ‘neath “The Stars,”

Let’s honor the living now wearing the scars

Which they brought from the fields of battle and strife,

While protecting “Our Flag,” and our Nation’s life.

Let the flowers bear tribute in their simple way.

And each one remember Memorial Day;

Remember the dead, and the living, though few,

Who fought ‘neath “The Stars,” and the red, white and blue.