Everyone agreed the parade was a singular improvement over parades in the recent past. Minutes longer. The vibe exuberant. Even mid-Lakeview Avenue hosted crowds. The nearer the cemetery, the larger, the noisier, the more boisterous the satisfied onlookers. Certainly, the sun had much to do with it. This has been the most dismal spring weatherwise in my remembrance. Too long we’d been trudging this year with dour resignation through cloud and cold. Sunlight and warmth at last, even if, as it has seemed to have turned out, we haven’t yet arrived at anything resembling blessed summer’s beginning.

And there were the local dignitaries, waving and greeting the crowds, the mayor, council members, the 23rd district’s Congressional representative, Nick Langworthy, who was sure to hold a prominent space on the platform and to be accorded the honor due so distinguished a personality – a major opportunity at the podium.

And Los Contrincontes, the very visible and admirable Jamestown car club, featuring one of its beautifully restored automobiles and blasting at high decibel along the way the Lee Greenwood irritatingly trite patriotic song “God Bless the U.S.A.” How could I not be momentarily dispirited? Only momentarily. I followed the parade, stopping here and there to chat and smile with friendly neighbors, up the street to the cemetery to partake of the solemn ceremonies.

What? Live streaming? This was a first as far as I know. I have been attending Memorial Day proceedings forever. I well remember the rather beat up looking Army tank rumbling over Prendergast Avenue, its long barrel swiveling right and left over the heads of the onlookers. It was always a crowd favorite. Pleasingly anachronistic like past military parades, which, it appears, are about to be revived in Washington for the president’s birthday. A grand event it will be, sure to stimulate the hearts of patriotic Americans.

Jamestown Memorial Day observations maintain a dignified solemnity. Lakeview Cemetery’s Soldiers’ Circle is the traditional and appropriate venue for the occasion. The flag limp at the tall flagpole in the middle of the Circle is at half-mast. The various agencies’ responsible for the day’s agenda, the speakers, the retired military personnel who will deliver necrology reports, all are seated on the elevated stage. When Master of Ceremonies Greg Carlson, Air Force Major (ret.), cleared his throat at the microphone signaling the beginning of the program, this year’s oversized audience assumed a respectful silence. Keynote speaker Chief Master Sergeant Wayne E. Quattrone II, (ret.), brother of Chautauqua County sheriff James Quattrone, delivered his remarks in a friendly and self-deprecating way. I was particularly touched to watch two lines of women of various ages facing each other before either side of the stage translate Quattrone’s address in unison in sign language. Another first which I hope and expect will become tradition.

A single recurring theme distinguishes Memorial Day ceremonies not only in Jamestown but throughout the country. The day is designated to honor the American soldiers killed in the wars fought throughout the country’s history, the heroes who sacrificed themselves to preserve the liberties America holds sacred, the truth that must be emphasized year after year that Freedom is not nor ever will be Free. So constantly has the truth been repeated by patriots and politicians that it has become a cliché. Yet, I will be the first to maintain that it remains a truth. The truth deserves every bit of the solemnity and decorum so profound a message implies. Even to the caution against playing objectionable music, which violation, I believe, blemished the otherwise touching observance. Greenwood’s “Proud to be an American” song is blasted at each of Donald Trump’s vulgar rallies. The song is nothing more than a Hallmark tribute to false patriotism.

Which brings me to Nick Langworthy, MAGA cheerleader. I suppose Nick had to choose from among the Memorial Day ceremonies in his district. I suppose there is something to say for the honor bestowed upon us. I do compliment Nick for showing up at all in a space where repeated publicly visible objection to his representation has taken on a life of its own. Many P-J readers will have seen one or another of the gatherings at Second and Main below his Jamestown office where an always feisty group call out Chicken Nick for refusing to hold a Town Hall meeting among his constituents. I eagerly awaited his address from the Memorial Day stage.

He read his remarks in that authoritative voice required of elected officials. There was neither eye contact nor other engagement with the audience that I observed. He stuck to the theme, that our cherished inviolable Freedom is not free. But I would ask you, Nick, are not those freedoms you so piously referred to–of speech, of assembly, the right to vote– not only threatened but actually being eliminated by the fascist administration you champion? Are you not even a little concerned over the arrest and detention of those targeted for voicing opinions contrary to a cruel administration policy? Over a concerted attack on science and education? On decency itself?

The ceremony closed as it started–with sober decorum. But who decided to conclude with the Greenwood song and the request that the assembled rise and join in? Again, for a moment I was dispirited. But Rick Lundquist’s beautiful lingering Taps rendition and the traditional twenty-one gun salute rescued me. I departed as always misty-eyed.

Paul Leone is a Jamestown resident.