Coplay American Legion Post 426 and its auxiliary on Sunday will continue a tradition going back decades by holding Memorial Day programs in the borough and Stiles. The day begins by the borough legion contingent present for services 9:30 a.m. at St. John’s Lutheran Church.

The program rotates yearly among the town’s three churches.

The legion honor/firing squad will hold a brief program, between 11:30 a.m. and noon, at Coplay Saengerbund war memorial, Fifth and Hokendauqua streets. The program consists of laying a wreath at the memorial, a volley of shots from the firing squad and taps by a bugler.

Then, the contingent assembles at the St. Peter Roman Catholic Church cemetery on Hokendauqua Street for a tribute to the veterans buried there, followed by a program at St. John the Baptist Church cemetery in Stiles.

Concluding the program at the Stiles war memorial, Post 426 returns to the borough, gathering at the Coplay cemetery on Ruch Street.

The legion contingent then moves to the borough war memorial plaza at Chestnut and Maple streets, where usually a small crowd gathers for the ceremony, a prayer, laying a wreath at the base of the World War II memorial, taps and the firing of shells.

Proceeding to the Coplay-Northampton Bridge, a wreath will be tossed into the waters of the Lehigh River for those borough veterans who perished at sea.

The final program is at Post 426 where all fallen borough veterans are honored.

Veterans at their final resting place at the two above-mentioned cemeteries have small American flags placed on the graves. The flags are provided by Lehigh County and placed at the burial sites by the legion members.

Households across the borough will be flying American flags from their porches and flag poles.