Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts placed wreaths at military monuments after the parade.
SOUTH HADLEY — Two boys played catch with a hard ball and leather mitts on a patch of grass Monday on Main Street, waiting for the parade.
The Memorial Day parade arrived, and soon Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts were placing wreaths at granite monuments to the town's war dead on the lawn of the red-brick Town Hall. People held American flags, and Little Leaguers marching in the parade chanted "USA! USA!"
A documentarian seeking signs of small-town patriotism could have recorded a flow of vintage symbols as the town marked Memorial Day.
Few events are like Memorial Day, with its sadness and celebration, Capt. David M. Gardner of the U.S. Coast Guard said to people standing on the Town Hall lawn. It's a day of people attending barbecues and grieving the loss of loved ones killed in military service, he said.
"But today, you're here," Gardner said. "Good to see you here."
Gardner, of South Hadley, is reserve chief of staff and senior reserve officer of the First Coast Guard District in Boston and dean of pre-medical programs at Mount Holyoke College. On Monday, he also was grand marshal of the South Hadley Memorial Day Parade.
Originally known as "Decoration Day," Memorial Day began in the years following the Civil War, which ended in 1865. Memorial Day became an official federal holiday in 1971, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
People who choose to celebrate something are hopeful, Gardner said, and that defined those who wished to ensure that the Union and Confederate soldiers who perished would be remembered.
"Almost 150 years later, people are still hopeful," Gardner said.
The parade featured a target=_blankBlue Star Mother float. A Blue Star mother is one with a son or daughter in active service in the military. Mary Ann Donze rode on a float with a sign that identified her as the mother of Marine Private First Class Dylan Donze.
"I love the float. I think it adds a nice touch," said Karen Walsh Pio, a public schools counselor, who cheered Donze as she paraded by.
Kyle R. Whelihan, of South Hadley, known here as a tenor in his days at South Hadley High School, sang "American Soldier" and "God Bless the USA," popularized by country artists.