Remembering veterans in Salisbury

SALISBURY — The Salisbury Memorial Day parade kicked off promptly at 10 a.m. under a gray and ominous sky.

It rained steadily from about 9:10 a.m. until ten minutes before the parade started.

As the band started playing and flashing lights and the occasional whoop of a siren began on Main Street by Town Hall and the Scoville Memorial Library, down at the intersection of Main Street and Undermountain Road, emergency personnel issued last-second parade avoidance directions to unwary motorists, one of whom disregarded the directions and got well and truly stuck.

The parade included the Salisbury Band, Salisbury Central School band (as one unit), the Redhawks hockey team, the Salisbury Visiting Nurse Association, the Rotary Club, the Lakeville Hose Company, the Salisbury Volunteer Ambulance Service, the Hotchkiss Veterans Club, Housatonic Child Care Center and Salisbury’s veterans, most in uniform.

At the cemetery, Rev. John Nelson of the Salisbury Congregational Church gave the invocation. Kennadi Mitchell, an eighth-grade student at Salisbury Central School, recited the Gettysburg Address, and David Bayersdorfer read the “Roll of Honored Dead.”

There was a rifle salute, with Chris Williams warning the crowd about the noise and urging caution with dogs and small children.

This was followed by “Taps and Echo.” Lloyd Wallingford led the crowd in “God Bless America.”

Rev. Heidi Truax of Trinity Episcopal Church led the prayer, which was Psalm 23. The band played the National Anthem. Nelson delivered the benediction.