A solemn attendance greeted the Stanley W. Reinhard American Legion Post 426 honor guard contingent as they kicked off the annual Memorial Day program May 25 at the Coplay Saengerbund war memorial at South Fifth and Hokendauqua streets.

A prayer was read by Post 426 Commander Lawrence Gutleber, a three-shot gun salute to the dead occurred, and the program concluded with the playing of taps by veteran Joseph Bundra.

The parties traveled to and repeated the ceremony at the St. Peter Roman Catholic Church cemetery, St. John’s cemetery in Stiles, the Stiles war memorial on Chestnut Street, Coplay Cemetery, the Coplay war memorial at Maple and Chestnut streets and on the Coplay-Northampton Bridge to deposit a wreath into the Lehigh River to honor those lost at sea. The ceremony ended at Post 426 on South Second Street.

Gutleber, at the close of the ceremony, expressed gratitude to all who attended to make the ceremony a success by honoring those men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice.

Established in the 1930s, Post 426 has held this gathering for decades. Longtime Legion leader and member Roland Yudt, a veteran who has participated in the ceremony for many years, was asked how long the Coplay Post 426 Memorial Day weekend ceremony has occurred.

“They were doing this before I was born,” Yudt replied.

Memorial Day was originally called Decoration Day. Three years after the Civil War ended, May 5, 1868, General John A. Logan, a leader of the Grand Army of the Republic, established Decoration Day as a time for the nation to decorate the graves of the Civil War dead with flowers. There are a number of GAR veterans buried in the Coplay Cemetery at Ninth and Oak streets.

Decoration Day evolved into Memorial Day after World War I to honor all war dead.