ELLSWORTH, Maine — Dan Sullivan has been leading the Ellsworth Memorial Day parade for the past 25 years and though he and many members of his Veterans of Foreign Wars chapter are getting older, they have no plans to stop marching.
They could be relaxing at home or enjoying some good eats at a barbecue, but Sullivan and the small group of veterans from the local VFW post feel a duty to march year after year to ensure their fallen comrades are remembered.
“It is said that a serviceman dies twice,” Sullivan, a retired Air Force veteran, said at Monday’s parade. “Once when his soul leaves his body and then when they forget his name. In Ellsworth, we don’t forget their name.”
Richard Saunders, an Army veteran from Surry, said the holiday makes him think back to the officers that he served with in Vietnam.
“I lost people in Vietnam and it really hits my heart terribly on days like this,” he said.
But their numbers are dwindling. In the past, Sullivan remembered about 50 to 60 veterans marching. On Monday, there were about 15 to 20.
The last World War II veteran from the local Ellsworth VFW post died last year, and there are only a few Korean War veterans left, including 90-year-old Colin Smith who marched and was part of the parade’s color guard.
The parade is bolstered with a local Cub Scout pack, the Ellsworth High School marching band, and various police and fire vehicles.
The VFW has been starting to attract some members who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Saunders hopes more will join.
“We’re getting some younger people in now. Thank goodness for us,” Saunders said. “We want them there and we want to be able to help them.”
Marchers also said that spectator attendance, which can be pretty dependent on weather, has also grown sparse over the years. Some veterans thought with the sun on Monday, there would have been more people.
But no matter who shows up, Sullivan said he and his veterans will continue to march.
“We were given a sacred trust,” Sullivan said. “As long as two of us are here, we will have this parade on Memorial Day.”