South Kingstown's 2021 Memorial Day Parade: What To Know

SOUTH KINGSTOWN, RI — Memorial Day is a holiday people throughout Rhode Island and across America look forward to every year as the start of summer.

It also gives people a chance to look back, as the final Monday in May is a day to remember all American lives lost during military service.

After it was canceled in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, South Kingstown's Memorial Day parade is back on for 2021.

Tony DiMichele and Harry Schleicher will serve as chief marshals. DiMichele, who is 96, was a private first class in the U.S. Army and fought in the D-Day invasion in Normandy, France. Schleicher, meanwhile, was a training pilot in the U.S. Air Force.

The Monday parade will step off from Holly Street, then continue to Main Street, ending at Saugatucket Park on High Street.

The parade will be made up of active and retired military men and women, Town leaders, community organizations and public safety agencies. Because of the restrictions placed on school bands, there will be no marching bands in this year's parade. To help keep the spirit going, the town asked local businesses along the parade route to play patriotic music as the parade passes by.

No parking will be allowed along the parade route from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m.

After the parade, a memorial ceremony will be held at the park, around 11 a.m., with Retired U.S. Army Colonel William Babcock serving as master of ceremonies. Senator Jack Reed will be in attendance.

Once the ceremony wraps up, refreshments will be available to the public at Elks Lodge 1899 at 60 Belmont St. in Wakefield.

Here's what to know about the history of Memorial Day:

It Was Originally Called Decoration Day: Remembering veterans who died while in military service in late May dates back to 1868, when Gen. John A. Logan called for a day of remembrance to honor the Northern lives lost amid battle during the Civil War that had ended just a few years earlier, according to History.com. Logan called it “Decoration Day,” which it was known as for several years. As time passed, more and more people called it Memorial Day, History.com reported, and it became a federal holiday in 1971.

Birthplace Of Memorial Day: The Memorial Day holiday tradition in Waterloo, New York, dates back even longer than Logan’s call for a day of remembrance. Waterloo first celebrated on May 5, 1866, as local businesses closed and residents decorated the graves of fallen soldiers with flowers and flags, according to History.com.

"The people of Waterloo are justly proud of this outstanding event in the history of their community," then-New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller said in 1966, when the federal government recognized the upstate village about midway between Rochester and Syracuse as the “birthplace of Memorial Day.”

Although its event is canceled for the second consecutive year due to the coronavirus, Waterloo holds a yearly two-day celebration — complete with a car show, Civil War memorial and 5K races — as a nod to the village’s rich connection to the holiday’s history.

A Civil War Holiday At First: Until World War I, Memorial Day, or Decoration Day as noted above, was only meant to honor those who died while fighting for the union in the Civil War, as Southern states honored their war dead on a separate day. After the 116,000-plus American deaths in World War I, the holiday took on a new role to remember all who have died while serving in the military.

National Moment Of Remembrance: Every year, a national moment of remembrance is held at 3 p.m. local time on Memorial Day. The midday time was chosen “because it is the time when many Americans are enjoying their freedoms on the national holiday,” according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.