May 27, 2024: Jim Beyer, of Washington Township, N.J., conducts the Beck’s Philadelphia Brigade Band, which features original instruments and music from the Civil War era.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
That focus on history brought me to yesterday’s annual observance of Decoration Day at Laurel Hill Cemetery, a tradition dating from 1868 to pay tribute to those who lost their lives in the Civil War. Now known as Memorial Day, it became a national holiday in 1971.
The ceremony is an annual tradition of the Grand Army of the Republic George Meade Post #1. First held in 1868, the service recreates the historic memorial observance of adorning the graves of fallen soldiers with wreaths.
I can relate to El, who says history is his life. He is a volunteer curator at the Philadelphia VA hospital’s museum and served with the 82nd Airborne as a paratrooper.
Behind him is the Silent Sentry, standing over the graves of Civil War veterans. The monument was originally dedicated in 1883 to watch over the Soldiers Home’s Civil War veterans burial plot in Mount Moriah Cemetery in Kingsessing. The 700-pound bronze statue of a Union soldier was stolen in the 1970s, then rescued by a Camden scrap dealer, but was in storage for four decades until it was restored and reinstalled in Laurel Hill on Memorial Day ten years ago by the Pennsylvania Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States (MOLLUS).
Sebastian Major sounds taps as the bugler with Beck’s Philadelphia Brigade Band.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
The observance also included the dedication of markers at the graves of previously unmarked veterans, Lt. Albert B. Lapsely, who served during the Civil War with Co. H, 72nd Pennsylvania Volunteers Philadelphia Brigade; and Huyler Davidyan, a WWI medic/ambulance driver and member of Tioga American Legion Post 319.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
A wreath at the grave of Gen. George Gordon Meade, Union hero of the Battle of Gettysburg.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
A color guard made up of members of various local Civil War reenactment units marches between ceremonies at the cemetery.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Jim Beyer, of Washington Township, N.J. conducts the Beck’s Philadelphia Brigade Band, which features original instruments and music from the Civil War era.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Observers photograph the Brigade Band.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
The “Silent Sentry” stands over graves of Civil War veterans during the service. The monument was originally dedicated and placed in Mount Moriah Cemetery in Kingsessing in 1883 by the Pennsylvania Commandery of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States but was stolen in the 1970s. It was rescued by a Camden scrap dealer, restored and reinstalled in Laurel Hill on Memorial Day in 2014.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
In front of the Sentry monument, Albert El, president of the 3rd Regiment Infantry United States Colored Troops Civil War reenactors takes a photo for a group of attendees following the observance. El, who says history is his life, is a volunteer curator at the Philadelphia VA museum. He served with the 82nd Airborne as a paratrooper.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
The marker at the grave for Edwin Walton (and his wife) who was born in Chester County in 1830 and served as a lieutenant with the 45th Regiment, United States Colored Infantry during the Civl War.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Walt Lafty, with the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, Baker-Fisher Camp No. 101 from Montgomery County takes a photo for a group of attendees following the Memorial Day observance.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Civil War reenactors Kathy and Ed Berna, with American Legion Benjamin Franklin Post #405 at the Philadelphia Union League, leave for home in Virginia following the traditional Decoration Day service at Laurel Hill Cemetery Sunday, May 26, 2024. Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Since 1998, a black-and-white photo has appeared every Monday in staff photographer Tom Gralish’s “Scene Through the Lens” photo column in The Inquirer’s local news section. Here are the most recent, in color:
May 20, 2024: A plane taking off from Philadelphia International Airport flys over a turret of three 16-inch/50-caliber Mark 7 guns on the fore deck of the Battleship New Jersey, currently berthed in Dock #3 in dry dock at the Navy Yard (the same dock it was launched from on Dec. 7, 1942). Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
May 13, 2024: Sloan, 2, and Sylvie, 3 months, wait while their parents, Sara Tice and Shane Shoemaker of Kensington, who were close by, shop for spring flowers and garden supplies in Cherry Hill.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
May 6, 2024: Shoppers “donate” other objects besides coins in a fountain at the Cherry Hill Mall, leaving maintenance workers to clean up after them (the coins go to charity). Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
April 29. 2024: While not as common a sight on rooftops as turkey vultures, Canada geese do show up on top of homes during nesting season - as this pair in Haddonfield. Wildlife experts say laying eggs on roofs is unusual, but a way to avoid predators. Baby Canada geese have been seen jumping from high buildings and surviving, because their body mass is so light, they often just bounce.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
April 22, 2034: The city girls’ team is introduced in the first half of a double header at the Philadelphia Building and Construction Trades Council’s 37th annual All-Star Labor Classic, a high school basketball showcase that featured some of the city’s and suburbs’ top boys’ and girls’ players at Holy Family University. Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
April 15, 2024: There was plenty of room under the Franklin Institutes’s specially designed viewing tents after the crowds left when the partial solar eclipse reached maximum coverage - and the clouds thickened.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
April 8, 2024: The tulips, hyacinth — and picture takers — are in full bloom and out in Dilworth Park at City Hall. Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
April 1, 2024: April showers bring May flowers. And abandoned umbrellas — this one seemingly floating in the street in Old City.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
March 25, 2024: Tugboats settle the Battleship New Jersey into its relatively quiet temporary stop at the Paulsboro Marine Terminal - after leaving crowds on the Camden Waterfront and both sides of the Delaware River on Thursday. The World War II-era battleship turned-museum moved from its dock in Camden and remained in Paulsboro for preparation before heading to the Navy Yard in South Philadelphia where it will undergo routine maintenance, repairs, and repainting for the first time in 32 years. The whole project is set to cost about $10 million with restoration work set to take at least two months. Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
March 18, 2024: Friends from Iowa pause before boarding a tourist bus on Independence Mall. They’ve been going to St. Patrick’s Day parades in different states for 14 years. From left are Dan and Diane Sperfslage, of Aurora; Dianne and Mike Loughren, of Hazleton; and Becky and Doug Lindsay, of Masonville. This year they celebrated in Alexandria, Va.; Morristown, N.J.; Ireland, W. Va.; Crown Point, Ind.; and Philadelphia.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
March 11, 2024: Rittenhouse Square on a sunny day, in between the rainy ones. The park between spring and summer, bare branches and buds.Between brown and green grass, long nights and long days. The Super Bowl and Opening Day. Between flakes (we actually had a few this year!) and flowers. Between staying in and going out, scarves and shirtsleeves. Between Pasternak's “Doctor Zhivago” by the fireplace and Defoe’s “Robinson Crusoe” on the beach.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
March 4, 2024: Board members, educators, media workers, brewers and guests tour the long-empty swimming pool at the Moorestown Community House, which will be renovated into a microbrewery. It will be a first for the historically “dry” borough.
Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
February 26, 2024: Demolition continues of existing concrete covering I-95 between Chestnut and Walnut Streets, part of the Penn’s Landing park project. All four lanes of I-95 South were closed over the weekend, part of a $329 million project to create a nearly 12-acre park at Penn’s Landing over the interstate. Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
February 19. 2024: James Freeman of Philadelphia, a MAGA Trump supporter and social media content provider who posts as REELZ6324, vlogs as he seeks a spot outside the Convention Center on Saturday to get a glimpse — along with a handful of other spectators — of former President Donald Trump’s motorcade. The Republican presidential candidate swung by for a 15-minute appearance at Sneaker Con to unveil his line of gold sneakers. Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
February 12, 2024: Television monitors are set up around the Capitol building in Harrisburg on Tuesday for overflow viewing of Gov. Josh Shapiro’s second budget address. Because the House chamber is closed for repairs from a water leak, his speech before a joint session of the General Assembly took place in the rotunda, a space with less room for the some 300 legislators and guests.Read moreTom Gralish / Staff Photographer
