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Good morning and welcome to In Our Range.
I'm your host, Mike LeBeau.
This morning I'm joined by American Legion Service Officer, Paul Lemons.
He's here to discuss the Ironwood Memorial Day Parade, which ends with a ceremony at Riverside Cemetery.
The Memorial Day Ceremony at Riverside is a long tradition here in Ironwood.
Every year the parade begins at the Ironwood Memorial Building, proceeds to the Veterans Memorial near the post office, goes north on Lowell, then west on Ridge Street, ending in Riverside Cemetery for the ceremony.
The Memorial Day ceremony at Riverside includes the placing of flags and flowers on the graves of fallen soldiers from Ironwood.
Patriotic songs are performed by the Ironwood High School marching band as well as speeches to mark the day.
If you've never attended, I highly encourage you to take part in this beautiful and solemn event to remember those who died in battle fighting for our country.
Paul grew up here in Ironwood and graduated from Luther L. Wright.
He served in the U.S.
Army for over 20 years and came back to the area to retire.
He joins us this morning to talk about the Ironwood Memorial Day Parade and Ceremony, a beautiful annual tradition here.
Good morning, Paul.
Good morning.
Welcome to In Our Range.
Thank you.
In 2019, my family and I had just moved here to Ridge Street.
It was my first time seeing the parade and the ceremony in Riverside, and I found it really moving.
How long has this tradition existed in Ironwood?
The post started, it's one of the older posts in Michigan, it started in 1919.
And then with the help of the Women's Club, they were really the energy behind creating the memorial building.
So the parades began as they were also building up momentum to construct the memorial building over there on McLeod.
Right earlier it was called something else.
I don't recollect what it was called, but then it was changed to Memorial Day and then the post has been here a long time.
No, that's incredible.
Okay, that's incredible.
And so this is something that's been going on for well over a hundred years now
Oh definitely
this parade the ceremony and Riverside Cemetery there right going on just as long
right and if you ever go down there there are some really
old veterans markers down there.
We worked on them some time to uncover some in the story behind them.
When I look up the units, it's amazing.
Yeah, it's really incredible.
I would encourage anyone to take a walk through that cemetery.
I used to live near there.
There's the
I think it's a Grand Army of the Republic Memorial there, the Civil War Memorial, and then there's a couple different spots where there are veterans and fallen soldiers who've been buried.
It's a really beautiful cemetery and there's a lot of stories in those headstones.
Larry Peterson, who did a history thing on this show here on the station for 35 years, he's taken me for some walks around Riverside and boy, he knows a whole bunch.
It's pretty incredible.
Yeah, down there, the cannon that's in the veterans area.
We've had a fundraiser and it's almost complete to get new wheels put on it.
And a Namish guy in Lower Wisconsin is currently building them and it'll be back in there soon.
Wow, so I guess yeah if you needed a wheel right you'd probably have to go find an Amish fella right it's wood Yeah, so
they're redoing the spokes and
everything and the American Legion is handling that as a yes Raising funds for that as well.
Yes.
Okay.
How can folks contribute?
Just try to contact someone.
There's a lot of American Legion guys You bump into somebody we have some flyers up around in different buildings and
So they can still available for donations
sounds good And when do they hope to expect when do they expect to get that done?
Oh, it's it's almost complete.
Oh,
so
we pretty much raised the 5,000 we were trying to get I think
that'll be great I don't know
if it'll be and then you know for Memorial Day, they won't be up here yet, but
soon
after that
there's a lot of planning and Help that's needed
to pull this off every year the the ironwood marching band is always a part of it and the ROTC the ROTC is part of the honor
guard
that needs the parade
so this year the new thing we're trying which they said in the past and i'm 70s
We're going to try to get families and children to walk behind the parade and walk all the way down with us if they'd like.
That would be really incredible.
So you'll have the honor guard and the parade, the veterans marching in their groups and then just as many folks from the community.
And 9.45 is the time you'd like to show up if you want to be a part of that.
So 9.45 on
Memorial Day.
On Memorial Day meet at the memorial building.
Yes, sir.
And march and bring some flowers.
Yeah,
and
also the Friday before Memorial Day at eight o'clock in the morning.
That's when we place the flags at the mark at the graves.
and anybody's welcome to come and help.
And then Tuesday after Memorial Day, eight o'clock in the morning, that's when we pull them out.
That's when we really like some people to come and help because it's a lot of work to get them flags back up
and
cleaned up for the next year.
OK, so you'll need volunteers on the Friday of Memorial Day weekend to meet at Riverside.
Yes,
sir.
Right.
At what time?
Eight o'clock.
At eight o'clock to place flags on all the graves.
which I can imagine would feel patriotic and feel pretty good.
Yeah, it's hundreds and there's a lot of them and it shouldn't just be older people wrenching our backs out to put those flags in the ground.
So bring some younger folks and have them participate in this.
And then on Tuesday, all those flags will come up
right at eight o'clock at
eight o'clock in the morning again.
Another thing I'd like to say is, the Friday before the Memorial Day, this far auxiliary, they do the poppy sales, and that's ongoing right now, and that's for the blood.
Poppies represent the blood that was shed during World War I.
Yeah, I have a I have a note here.
So there is a poppy sale.
It's poppy days the American Legion unit 5 and Luther L Right JROTC members will be looking for donations for poppies as well and You can make those donations at Circle K Super 1 or Walmart and The monies used to raise our go-to-support veterans in the area and VA facilities and Marquette and Iron Mountain
Yes.
Yeah, so keep your eyes open for that folks.
Donate.
We'll get the poppies that represent the sacrifice, the bloodshed for our country by soldiers who fell in battle and also goes to a good cause of helping out the VA and Marquette and Iron Mountain.
Yeah, and I'd just like to tell you who the master of ceremonies will be Lieutenant Colonel David Mankey and our guest speaker this year will be Brigadier General David F. O'Donoghue.
who is a director, joint staff for Wisconsin Joint Forces Headquarters National Guard.
So they'll be the two primary, the master ceremonies.
Yes, and the
guest speaker.
Yeah, and then they usually have some other speakers there too.
In the past, they've had some gold star mothers give speeches and...
Right, they'll be...
Lot going on.
It's a good event some chorus singing Yeah patriotic songs.
It's a very beautiful ceremony, you know, I grew up in the suburbs of Detroit and We you know what there would be parades, but I never saw anything like this
It is a patriotic thing, you know a lot of a lot of people are still into it around here So it's nice, you know, it's harder to get younger veterans and I'm talking about the veterans from Iraq Afghanistan
Kosovo, everything after Vietnam, it kind of trickled down.
And
we'd like to get some new members.
I know those guys are young and have families and are pretty busy, but it'd be nice to get them in to see us.
We're the second Tuesday of every month.
We open up at 5.30.
We try to have a dinner sometime.
It's just $6, great dinner.
trying to do more family oriented stuff so we'd like to get some younger folks in to give us ideas how to get them guys into our group.
Yeah, so the American Legion Unit 5 right here in Ironwood is looking for some younger members.
And so if you're looking for some fellowship and some other fellows and folks who've been through it, you know, then you'll find them there at American Legion Unit 5.
Second Tuesday.
Every month
second Tuesday of every month get together for dinner.
It's only about six bucks and you get some good fellowship right wonderful So 945 they'll be meeting down there at the memorial building and then the parade will weave its way north and west to Riverside, but they make a stop
At the veterans memorial right there by the post office.
Yes.
Yeah, so there's I imagine there's a small little ceremony there is
right real small they put flowers right now that memorial has Trying to think of the war the first one on it Spanish-American war
is it
and then up to Vietnam they have names That's when it stopped the big memorial has a little shift and we're working someone's gonna come and Straighten it up for us.
We're trying to make
that reset that
monument
okay
yes sir
so this is a beautiful tradition it used to happen in small towns all across america i don't know how much it happens anymore but it still seems to hold strong here it's a beautiful parade a beautiful ceremony and i would encourage everyone to be a part of it this year for especially for our nation's 250th birthday is there anything else you'd like to add this morning that's
it come on and come visit and
March down with us.
Oh, last thing, if there's in climate weather, they'll do it right in the auditorium right there in the memorial building.
Yes.
Thanks for reminding me about that.
I forgot to mention that.
I appreciate it.
So if it's raining, still come on down.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And if it's not raining, the parade will head to Riverside Cemetery for a beautiful ceremony there, which I also encourage everyone to attend.
And they are also looking for volunteers to plant flags at the grave markers 8 a.m.
on Friday and
And then they need volunteers to pick those back up on Tuesday morning at 8am as well.
Alright Paul, thanks again for joining us.
And thank you for your service as
well.
Thank you.
My guest this morning was Paul Lemons, service officer with American Legion post number 5 right here in Ironwood.
We discussed the Memorial Day Parade and the subsequent ceremony over there at Riverside Cemetery.
Members of the public are encouraged to walk with the parade this year.
They will be meeting at the memorial building at 945 just before the parade starts.
So get on down there and be a part of that beautiful solemn ceremony.
All right, thank you for joining us on In Our Range.
I'm your host, Mike LeBeau.
We'll see you next week.