Letter: Holiday demeaned

I am the vice commander of American Legion Post #673 Huntley. I chair the position of the Memorial Day parade in our village. This year's parade was large, an hour long for the parade participants to march.

Thank you all for helping us veterans to remember those who made the supreme effort and did not return home.

When forming the parade Monday morning, because of the magnitude of the registered groups, motorized entries and floats were placed in line as they arrived in the staging area.

I will not mention names, but some politicians lost the true meaning of the parade to honor the fallen men and women and demanded to be placed ahead of others, and they proceeded to jump the line and force their way to the front of the line of cars and floats.

They then tried to make our parade a political one-upmanship on each other. I will submit to the village that future parades be unpolitical and return to what Memorial Day means. As General Logan wrote in General Order No. 11 in 1868, let us set aside he last Monday in May to honor those who made the supreme sacrifice. Then it was called Decoration Day.

Patrick Conley

Huntley