Tribute to the Fallen
Published: May 29, 2009
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Memorial Day festivities in Archbald included a parade.
Memorial Day services in Jessup.
Memorial Day services in Throop.
Memorial Day services in Blakely Borough
Memorial Day services in Dickson City
Throughout the area on Monday morning, there was the sound of rifle fire. But these were not shots fired in anger, but in memoriam, salutes to the fallen as part of Memorial Day ceremonies that were held in many Lackawanna Valley communities.
There were parades in Peckville, Archbald and Carbondale and there were official ceremonies in Dickson City, Jessup, Olyphant, Throop and less-formal gatherings in area cemeteries.
During the parade in Peckville, the procession stopped briefly to pay respects at a sign posted in rememberance of Sgt. Jan Argonish, the Peckville native killed in Afghanistan in 2007.
At the ceremonies in Holy Ghost cemetery in Jessup, a few lines were read from the famous poem "In Flanders Fields," written by Canadian Army doctor John McCrae in 1915. Almost a century later, it still speaks to the families of fallen soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines.
In Flanders Fields
In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
