Elbridge remembers war heroes
They lined Route 5 as they do each year, watching the parade pass by. Children hoping candy tossed from floats will find its way to them.
Lee Badman of Elbridge said, "I think it's easy to forget what today is about. It's easy to get caught up in the parade and the food and the fun and all of that."
The more serious side to the holiday lies along the same route at Mount Pleasant Cemetery -- a burial ground created in the late 18th century.
Like thousands of other communities, Elbridge gathers to remember its past sacrifices. Those sacrifices stretching back to the very birth of the nation.
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On a hill top in the old section of this graveyard lies William Stevens, who was one of the founders of this town. He named the community for an old friend, Elbridge Gerry, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.
Stevens was one of those who carried out the Boston Tea Party. He went on to serve in the Revolutionary War.
Not far away, the grave of his son, John Stevens, who served his country in the war of 1812.
Across this cemetery there are flags to mark the resting places of veterans of every major conflict -- the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, World War I and then, of course, all the wars that followed.
There is history here. But Memorial Day is often a story of personal history. The story of a child, a sibling or a parent.
Robert Radcliffe is the son of a World War II veteran. He said, "He told me the stories of when he was in combat in World War II. Got to be a pretty precious thing to go through. You know what I mean?"
Like thousands of other communities, Elbridge remembered -- remembered the cost of freedom and the price it has paid for over 230 years.