Old Fashioned Vintage American Memorial Day – a Southampton Township Tradition

128th Annual Memorial Day Parade is only one of several events that make Southampton’s Memorial Day special.

SOUTHAMPTON TOWNSHIP will be holding its 128th consecutive Annual Memorial Day Parade on Monday, May 26th. It is held rain or shine, as it has been for over a century and a quarter. Parade watchers and marchers have been known to weather major downpours to honor their war heroes, motivated by the fact that the rain and mud never deterred their community’s military men and women in the heat of battle, and it shouldn’t deter us from paying them honor.

But the classic parade isn’t the only Memorial Day event in Southampton. Early on Monday morning, Township officials and veterans’ organizations participate in four services in different parts of Vincentown beginning at 8:00 a.m. at Memorial Field on Red Lion Road. As a wreath is laid at the Veteran’s Monument at each location, the early morning tranquility of this rural village is broken by the sounds of military salutes by the uniformed honor guard shooting their M-1 rifles, followed by the echoing trumpets playing taps. This ritual is repeated three more times, at 8:20 a.m. at the Baptist Cemetery on Landing Road; at 8:45 a.m. at The Methodist Cemetery behind the Olde Town Hall on Plum St. and finally at 9:15 a.m. at the Grange Hall at the corner of Main and Grange Streets. As the shells are ejected, children scurry to retrieve them as they have through several generations of Vincentonians.

Vincentown’s Memorial Day celebrations are a true community effort, involving hundreds of volunteers who plan the events each year, who participate in the parade, and who lend their time and energy at the many community events throughout the day to honor the community’s past military heroes and present veterans.

The classic parade begins at 10:00 a.m. at Buddtown Road, a block in from Route 206 on Main Street and proceeds north along Main Street to the Veterans’ Monument located in front of the Allen Oil Company near Pemberton Road. As the marchers assemble around the monument, a sixth wreath-laying ceremony and gun salute takes place, along with a Memorial Day address by a prominent military personage or veteran. In recent years, an airplane from the community’s Red Lion Airport would drop roses over the assembled crowd.

This year’s popular parade will include the Seneca and Lenape High School Bands, as well as The Goodtimers, Freedom Brass, Special “K” Bands, and the Greater Trenton Pipes and Drums Band. Participation from the township will be overwhelming. There will be floats for township’s veterans, which include a large contingent from the Leisuretowne Military Veterans Association. There are floats from the Historical Society, Municipal Alliance, 3rd Graders from Southampton Township School, the Baptist Bible Group, and the Red Lion Faith Chapel, to name a few. Among the organizations marching in the parade will be The Elks Lodge of Mt. Holly as well as Southampton’s Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts and Cub Scout Troops.

Reflective of the rural nature of Vincentown and Southampton Township, many of the parade floats are pulled by historic tractors supplied by the Jack Allen Memorial Early Country Living Museum of Southampton. These crowd pleasers are one of the unique features of this parade, as are the many antique cars which carry clergymen and Township officials in the parade.

Frank Chappine, a veteran and long-time resident of Southampton will be the distinguished Grand Marshal of the parade. Local resident Frank Hicks presides over the main ceremony following the parade at the Southampton Veteran’s Memorial, at which the 1868 General Order No. 11 of the Grand Army of the Republic, which established “Decoration Day,” is read. George Sampson, past Department Commander of the American Legion for NJ and past Vice Commander for the National American Legion, and former Mayor of Florence, NJ will be the guest speaker. The Southampton School Band provides the musical interludes at this ceremony.

Continuing another long-time tradition, immediately following the memorial ceremony, Southampton Township will honor veterans of all wars with a free luncheon at the Grange Hall on Main Street from 11:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

The “small town America” flavor continues well into the evening when at 7 pm the famed Vincentown Merchants Baseball Team plays its annual Memorial Day game under the lights at Memorial Field on Red Lion Road.

The Village of Vincentown is listed on the National and State Registers of Historic Places. It has earned this title both because of the architectural and historical treasures preserved within the village, as well as for its long-running traditions, such as the Memorial Day Parade. Memorial Day in Vincentown is a community-wide effort, with residents proudly and selflessly contributing to the spirit and meaning of patriotism and what it means to be an American – inspired by the brave war heroes honored by this most hallowed of all U.S. holidays.

Joseph M. Laufer – May, 2008