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Holiday celebration: Whether old or new, Memorial Days always are red, white and blue

By Dean Shalhoup - Senior Staff Writer | May 23, 2020

Nashuans could go to the local theater to see films of high school sports and in this case, the Memorial Day parade, sandwiched between movies.

I think I can identify a couple of memory flashes of my experience many moons ago marching in uniform in a 1960s version of Nashua’s Memorial Day parade.

Now, there’s photographic proof it happened.

Thanks, Pop, the intrepid photographer.

I’m wearing a scowl for the ages. I have no idea why. Maybe the kid behind me said I was out of step.

As the photo shows, I was marching in the 1968 edition of Nashua’s Memorial Day parade, and despite my scowl I really was proud to be marching as a member of Boy Scout Troop 7, to which I belonged for several years.

Courtesy of Nashua Historical Society Another view of the large gathering of Nashuans who turned out for a 1937 Memorial Day service in Foster Square, where the statue of Civil War Gen. John G. Foster was erected decades earlier.

Why, then, the scowl? Well, I’d just turned 14. What’s not to scowl about?

The folded American flags we carried each represented a Nashua soldier killed in one or another of our wars. At the time, we were in the midst of the Vietnam War; the Middle East conflicts were still off in the future.

Forty-eight years before my fellow Troop 7 members and I marched down Nashua’s Main Street to honor the sacrifices made by so many American soldiers who would never come home to their families, one of the lucky ones called up our predecessor-in-name The Nashua Telegraph asking for a favor.

“Might your newspaper please call public attention to what has appeared, in past years, to be a rather lack of interest in the general exercise of Memorial Day?” queried the man, Capt. James Hunt, commander of the Grand Army of the Republic for New Hampshire.

Presumably, the Telegraph agreed; to not agree would be risking a reputation as unpatriotic. Capt. Hunt went on to say that his organization and local GAR posts were concerned that “many people seem to believe the (Memorial Day) parade and events are arranged soley for the benefit of the GAR posts.”

Courtesy of Nashua Historical Society A large gathering of Nashuans surrounds the statue of Civil War Gen. John G. Foster for a Memorial Day service in 1937. Such events, including the parades, drew large crowds in the era between the two world wars.

By virtue of simply reporting on Capt. Hunt’s request, the Telegraph fulfilled its presumed agreement to pass along his sentiments to the citizenry.

That exchange took place on the eve of Memorial Day 1920, a century ago this weekend, but in an era when Memorial Day was observed on May 30 with very rare exceptions – like, for instance, that very year, when it was observed May 31 because May 30 was a Sunday.

Back then, Sundays, as you may or may not know, weren’t like the rest of the week in almost every respect.

So on that Monday, May 31, a parade order that even included representatives of the “Greek Community Annunciation” marching in one of the divisions, stepped off from Railroad Square and headed south on Main Street with Col. William Sullivan as chief marshal.

In formation was the Avard Drum Corps, the Nashua Military Band, our Spanish War veterans, the Warren Camp of the Sons of Veterans, and members of Nashua’s John G. Foster Post 7, Grand Army of the Republic, who, as was noted on the order of the day, would ride in automobiles rather than march.

File photo The author, a member of Boy Scout Troop 7, appearing non too pleased about being photographed while marching in the 1968 Memorial Day parade.

Why? Well, unless you skpped history class pretty much every day, it’s because these guys were Nashua’s Civil War veterans – meaning they were well into their 70s and older, certainly not marching material by 1920 standards.

As happens just about every time I begin perusing old Telegraph copies for certain information, my eyes eventually wander from the original subject, and inevitably land on some irrelevant – but monumentally fascinating or entertaining – little tidbit.

Take for instance the travails of several young men who decided to spend their Memorial Day weekend on a canoe trip from Bennington to Nashua.

It seems they got behind schedule a bit, and by the time they reached Merrimack it was dark.

Apparently taking the advice of a local allegedly familiar with a section of the Merrimack River near Reed’s Ferry called Mooer’s Falls, the guys decided to “shoot the rapids,” a gamble that came up sevens.

Telegraph file photo A color guard precedes the James E. Coffey Post American Legion band, one of dozens of participants in Nashua's Memorial Day parade in 1976 – the year of the nation's bicentennial celebration.

They apparently survived, but the canoe trip was over; a couple guys camping downriver near the Kashulines Farm in Hudson fished out pieces of one of the canoes, thereby “putting the finish on the canoe trip indulged in by a party of local youngmen over the holiday,” the Telegraph reported.

In the same day’s Telegraph appeared a lost-and-found item in the classified section that certainly didn’t mince words.

“Lost: Will the person who took the ring from the shelf over the sink in the kitchen of the Town Hall in Hollis on Memorial Day kindly return the same … no questions will be asked and further trouble in this matter will be saved – as the party is known.”

Finally, it all else fails to entertain, there’s always the report from Municipal Court.

Among the cases heard at the most recent court session was that of Peter Oakman and Kate Oakman, who were charged with “illegal sale of Jamaica ginger.” The case was continued.

Members of a Boy Scout troop march in a Memorial Day parade in Nashua sometime in the early 1960s.

Also continued was the case of Josie Rachel, who was charged with assault on her neighbor, Burnice Johnson, the Telegraph reported.

“It is alleged Josie has a temper, and when it flares up, sticks and stones begin to fly. The case was apparently in the nature of a neighborhood row.”

It was continued to Wednesday morning, June 2.

Happy Memorial Day weekend – just don’t sell any Jamaica ginger, and for goodness sake, don’t rile Josie Rachel.

Dean Shalhoup’s column appears weekly in The Sunday Telegraph.

Dean Shalhoup

Longtime reporter, columnist and photographer, is back doing what he does best ñ chronicling the people and history of Nashua. Reaching 40 years with The Telegraph in September, Deanís insights have a large, appreciative following.

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